


Nanu’s Paradise

by Ospreyeagle



Series: Nanu’s Revenge AU [5]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Detectives, F/F, F/M, Gore, Guns, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Sex, innuendos galore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26486695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ospreyeagle/pseuds/Ospreyeagle
Summary: Ten years after the events of Nanu's Revenge, everything is well and Alola is back to be a paradise... or is it?
Relationships: Acerola/Hāpu'u | Hapu, Burnet-hakase | Professor Burnet/Kukui-hakase | Professor Kukui, Dulse/Zossie, Looker/OC, Molayne/OC, Nanu/OC, OC/OC, Phyco/Soliera, Sonia/OC, Sophocles/OC
Series: Nanu’s Revenge AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925602
Comments: 3





	1. Paradise?

**Author's Note:**

> I’m back! Miss me?

Chapter 1

I yawned, slowly waking up, rubbing my eyes. Sunlight was pouring through the slats of the blinds. I listened to Naomi softly snoring, watching her chest rising and falling slowly, drool escaping her lips, which was leaking onto my shoulder. I chuckled slightly. I rubbed her her head, just humming a lullaby. “Naomi…” I whispered, shaking her a little.

“Wha…t… huh?” she questioned groggily. She opened her eyes, rubbing them, wiping the drool off her lips, and blinking a few times. She gained her bearings and looked at me happily, smiling.

“Remember, we were going to send Larissa off. She’s 10 and she can start her island challenge.”

Realisation hit Naomi. “You’re right! She is our goddaughter after all!”

“Bingo!” I smirked at her, grinning, putting my hand on her hair and messing it up.

“Hey! I’m going to get you for that!” She pounced onto me, lying on top and kissing me, deeply. “I love you…”

“I love you too, my beautiful Moana.” I smiled at her, staring into her giant, beautiful brown orbs.

“We should get ready to go. Larissa will kill us if we are late. Want to join me in the shower?” She got off the top of me and got off the bed. Her beautiful brown eyes, her ‘come here’ finger gesture, and sexy smirk tempting me to come into the shower with her.

I blushed, giggling like a schoolchild. “You bet I will.” I hopped out of the bed, following her to the shower.

\---00—

I felt refreshed after a nice, warm shower and the wind from the boat ride blowing through my hair. I smiled, closing my eyes briefly, feeling the wind and rolling of the waves, which were slow and steady, barely any current or riptide. I looked up at the clouds, watching the Wingull, Pelipper, Ducklett and Swanna flying around, gliding and swooping. _Please don’t shit me, please don’t shit on me. Thank you,_ I thought to myself.

Naomi, on the other hand, had a nauseated look on her face, looking miffed, frustrated that her vertigo now giving away to nausea. She had several Dimemine patches on her shoulder, but they didn’t seem to be doing the trick. She closed her eyes and sad down in the seat on the back of the boat, resting her head on the back of the seat. She moaned, clutching her stomach.

“Naomi.” I turned my head around briefly to look at her, slowing the boat down, using only the trolling motor. “We’re already here, you know.” I navigated the boat slow enough to navigate her to a dock to moor her.

“I’m going to kick your ass if you’re lying.”

“I’m not lying.” I turned the key, turning the boat off. I smiled, grabbing her hand, and picking her up, carrying her while grabbing the rope. I jumped off the boat with her over my shoulders. I set her down on a bench next to the pier, letting her lie down. I walked back over to the edge of the pier, tying the rope, and mooring her to a bollard.

The day was beautiful on Melemele Island. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and the sky was beautiful and the sun was shining intensely. The humidity was unusually low, which made the sun beating down more tolerable than usual. A soft breeze also blew, carrying the scents of flowers, fruit, the ocean, and barbequed food.

Melemele Island was very green, with little or no dead plants and trees. There was a short, extinct volcano called Ten Carat Hill or ‘Umi Kalaka in Alolan, but it wasn’t tall enough to have snow, unlike Ula’ula Island.

Naomi got up from the bench, walking over towards a beach, muttering to herself, but I couldn’t tell what she was saying. I looked over at her, noticing her beautiful brown skin was still a slight green tinge and she still looked sick. It looked as if she was sick to her stomach and she collapsed into the beach, lying down, kissing the ground.

“Naomi? Please don’t get sick…”

“I’ll be okay,” she muttered under her breath, slowly getting up, brushing the sand off her clothes.

“Here, I got you, Naomi.” I wrapped my arms around her and started to kiss her.

“Oh hehe…” she giggled, the colour soon returning to her face. “I think I’ll be okay. I took some Dimemine anyway.”

“I’m sorry you started to develop seasickness.”

“No, it’s okay, I’ll be fine, I swear.”

“Come on, we should get a-walking, Larissa will kill us with her arrogance if we’re late.” I started to walk off quickly, with a substantial pace.

“If her death glare doesn’t kill you first!” Naomi easily caught up to me.

I looked down the long trail. It was a beautiful dirt trail, with many shady trees growing over it. Along the sides of the trail were gingers, roses, frangipani, ferns, mosses, lichens growing on rocks and many other plants I didn’t know the names of. A few tree roots grew in the middle of the trail, creating steps that led up to a small incline.

“Luckily, Gigi’s house isn’t that far.” I smiled, wrapping my arm around her waist.

“She picked such a wonderful place to live.”

“If I wasn’t the Kahuna of Ula’ula Island, I would definitely live here. It’s beautiful here and it’s not as humid either.”

“That’s something I noticed. But have you thought about passing your title off to someone else?”

I paused for a few seconds, sighing heavily, putting my hand on my chin. “Who would I pass it onto anyway? I could pass it onto Acerola.”

She turned around, looking back towards me while she stopped walking. “I bet she would love to be a Kahuna. I’ve overheard her talking to Hapu about wishing to be one.”

“Oh.” I stopped walking and paused again. “I’ll call her sometime and see what she thinks. They’re busy getting the ready for the tri-yearly festival at the Pokémon League, aren’t they?”

“Yes, that’s right.” She smiled, nodding. “Just something you should think of.”

“You’re right, that’s a good thing to think of. I’ve been a Kahuna since 1987…”

“I can’t believe it’s been 27 years… it doesn’t seem that long, to be honest. Maybe as a test, Acerola should battle you.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” I walked up towards her and hugged her. “Yes. Definitely a great idea, but we should get a move on.”

She smiled and kissed me, hugging me. “Yeah, let’s go.”

“I bet the others will want to walk with us, don’t you think?” I grabbed everyone’s balls.

“Good idea,” she said while grabbing her Poké balls.

We both through the Poké balls, watching everyone materialise. My Pokémon included Blu the Alolan Persian, Aquajet the Sharpedo, Firium the ‘Ōhuka Incineroar, Rusty the Krookodile, Gemma the Sableye and Flare the Arcanine. Naomi’s Pokémon included Dale the Mudsdale, Hurricane the Noivern, Argenta the Type: Full and Noelani, Argenta and Firium’s daughter.

Firium had evolved into a quadrupedal Incineroar, known as ‘Ōhuka in Alolan. He was sleek, with short fur. He looked like a Torracat but was taller and larger. His face was black, with long, reddish-orange furry cheeks. A long reddish-orange stripe ran through his face, forming a V-shape over eyes cheeks and ending in a cowlick. His muzzle was black and ended in a pink nose. Four long canines projected whenever he had his mouth opened. His eyes were yellow and orange with black pupils. His bell was now a fire collar, bright yellow in the middle with orange edges. His upper side was black, and underside was reddish orange. On his back was a long, reddish-orange cross-shaped stripe ran down his spine. His legs and paws were reddish orange, his front legs having three black stripes and back legs having two black stripes. His front paws were large, with three toes and long black claws and back paws were smaller, with three toes and small claws. His tail was long, with several stripes on it, ending in tuft of spiky black fur. His Firium Z Crystal, which he was named for, is now a bracelet around his left leg. His scars somewhat healed as well, barely noticeable without a closer inspection.

Noelani evolved as well, greatly resembling her mother and father. Her face resembled her father’s, but fluffy white cheeks. She still had her crest, which resembled Argenta’s, tall and white with a grey tip, resembling a hatchet. Her eyes were yellow and green, with black pupils and her muzzle was black, ending with a reddish-pink nose. Her chest fur was light grey in colour, with a long black, cross-shaped stripe in the middle of her chest. She had light grey ruff of feathers around her shoulders, looking like an epaulet. She had a belt of flames, not unlike her father’s flame collar. Her arms were light reddish orange in colour, with three black stripes on each arm. Her paws ended in long, five finger-like digits, with long, white claws. Her legs were the same colour as her arms, with both legs having a thick, black stripe. Both legs also had the Type: Full thick, purple scales on her shins and top of her back paws. Her back paws were the same colour as her front paws but were thick and only had three digits. Behind both paws were thick, white spurs. Her tail was blue, with three spikes, a white fin and light grey trailing edge.

Flame was huge, fluffy but sleek and lithe, despite all his fur. Unfortunately, his left back leg never did initially heal when he evolved, but his flank scar has since healed, almost unnoticeable. He was a beautiful golden colour, with thick black stripes and black underbelly. His muzzle, head, legs, and tail were covered in cream-coloured tufts of fur.

Everyone else looked the same and had barely changed in ten years, but Blu was starting to lose weight and look more scrawny; Hurricane had lost a bit of his ruff around his neck, exposing his scar; Dale had lost weight not unlike Blu, looking skinnier; Aquajet, Gemma, Argenta and Rusty had gained a few scars from a few battles with other trainers and wild Pokémon.

We both watched as everyone ran around, while Hurricane flew in front of them, playing some sort of game. They stopped flying and running when we walked up towards Crisipo and Fenrir, the two of them standing tall, looking intimidating. It took them a second to realise it was just us and I knew they were being protective of Gigi and her family.

“Oh! Nanu, Naomi, welcome!” Fenrir greeted us, wagging her tail while lolling her tongue.

“Ah! Good to see you, glad you’re here with us! Luckily, you aren’t late. Only Hapu and Acerola have shown up,” Crisipo barked happily, wagging his tail as well.

“Who all is coming anyway?” I asked.

“Let’s see…” Fenrir cocked her head. “Sophi and Tabella are coming too! They wouldn’t miss Larissa’s sending off party! She is his first cousin once removed anyway.”

“That’s all? What about Ruben, Martha, Le and Fin?” Naomi asked, smiling.

“Hey, you didn’t let me finish! Of course, they’re coming!” Fenrir protested. “As well Hala, Olivia and Kahili. Kukui and Ashley as well, can’t forget them. Come on, let’s go!” Fenrir turned her back and began to walk off.

We followed Fenrir and Crisipo through the now shortening path, into a well-landscaped yard, with beautiful flowers and trees and a nice lawn with freshly mown grass, which smelled sweet.

“I hope Tapu Koko blesses her,” I sighed, shrugging.

“She’s going to try and battle him?” Naomi asked.

“I don’t know. I feel like it’s up to the Tapu himself to decide.”

“There they are!” Gigi said happily, surprising us, approaching us from our rear.

“Hey, you’re just in time!” Molayne grinned.

“Glad you aren’t late.” Larissa glared, having a small smirk upon her face.

Gigi looked the same as she did ten years ago, but had gained a bit of weight, but she wasn’t overweight or anything of the sorts. She was also stronger and more muscular, possibly from carrying from Larissa. But she was also lithe and lean, not unlike Naomi. Her hair had grown out and she had since dyed it black, for whatever reason, but I have no idea.

Molayne looked the same as well, but also gained some weight and built more muscle, not unlike Gigi, but wasn’t as lean and lithe as her. He had longer hair, which he now kept in a ponytail. He also sported a moustache and beard, both of which were short.

Larissa was short, 10-year old girl, standing at only 4’3”, about the average height of someone her age. She resembled her mother and father: her face and eyes resembled Gigi’s, while the rest of her body resembled Molayne’s. Her hair was dirty blond, with slight curls, something she inherited from Phalina. Her eyes were slate blue, looking somewhat like Molayne’s eyes. She was wearing a dark grey shirt and cadet blue shorts and dark blue flip flops. Standing at her heels is her partner and best friend, a Jangmo-o named Thuban.

We were soon greeted by Remy, Alceste, Zephyra, Paola, Kaimana, Bandida, Bandida and Dale’s son, Markab, and Mimikins, with Acerola and Hapu in tow.

“There’s Mom and Dad!”

“Uncle, Auntie!”

Acerola looked the same, but had grown taller and now had longer hair, tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a purple tank top and shorts, which matched her hair.

Hapu looked the same as well, but was slightly taller, towering over Acerola. She had short hair, but kept it tied up using a baseball cap, which was plain white in colour. She was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and blue jeans.

Naomi and I smiled, hugging everyone as they greeted us. I was so happy to see my beautiful daughter and her wife. But while everyone was distracted and chatting amongst each other, I sensed something, but I couldn’t place what it was.

I thought no one else noticed, but Naomi stopped and stood near me, her left hand on my right shoulder. “Hey, what’s up?”

No one noticed that she stepped away from the group, but I saw that they were busy setting up a grill in order to cook hot dogs, burgers and vegetables. I watched and saw that Molayne had a sack of charcoal and lighter fluid. “I’m not sure, I sense something, but I can’t place what it is.” I lowered my voice to a whisper.

“I feel it too.” Colour drained from her face.

“Wait, you can?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know what it is.”

“The air feels different all of the sudden though.”

A cooler than usual breeze blew through, carrying the scent of something I didn’t know it was. Clouds also began to form in the sky, scuttling across the beautiful blue sky. The clouds soon turned light grey and I knew rain was on its way.

“Did you feel that?” I asked her.

“I did. And look at the clouds.” She pointed, looking up, with only her chin showing.

“What are you guys whispering about?” Larissa sneered. I didn’t even notice her approach us. “Mum needs you.”

“NANU! Get over here, please!” Gigi called out.

“Oh! Crap. I wasn’t paying attention, sorry.” I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment, walking over towards Gigi.

“I was wondering if you could help Molayne light the tiki torches. You’re the second tallest amongst all of us.”

“Oh! Of course, I’ll help.” I smiled.

“Thank you, yes. Here’s the lighter we use.” She handed me a long lighter, with a button to flick it on, on the end, near the handle.

“Anytime, Gigi.” I nodded, looking around and noticing there was a long row of tiki torches, easily 7 feet tall, neatly arranged along the yard’s perimeter.

I managed to light them all without any problems, but it soon began to rain. It wasn’t a small shower either, but a dumping of rain, completely soaking my clothes type of rain. I listened to everyone groan as they ran away, running under the house’s porch.

I sighed, feeling defeated and made my way underneath the porch as well. I turned around and saw that the flames on the torches were still lit, dancing as the drops hit the flames. _Hey, at least they’re still lit. Glad that one thing is going right,_ I thought to myself, but groaned in frustration.

No one seemed to have been paying attention to Naomi and I and watched as she approached me, placing her right hand around my waist. “That was strange, don’t you think?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

“Is that the weird thing you sensed?” I cocked my head, sighing.

“Quite possibly. What about you?”

“I think so. This is weird, but I still feel it.”

“I do too. I don’t think that’s it, but I am annoyed that a such a beautiful day has been ruined.”

I turned around to face her, noticed her clothes were completely soaking wet too, gripping her frame, but luckily she was wearing a sports bra, usually she didn’t wear one. “You caught a lucky break.” I winked.

She blushed, her cheeks turning pinkish. “You perv, I hate you right now. But… Y-yeah… I figured we would be playing volleyball or frisbee golf.”

“We could play something else, but I really don’t like wearing wet clothes. Don’t we usually keep extra clothes in the boat’s storage?”

“Oh yeah, we do, but those might get wet, too.” She placed her hand on her chin.

“Here.” I felt a tap on my shoulder, turned around and saw it was Gigi. “Have a towel. We’re going to start a fire using the grill and hope that everyone dries off.”

“Thank you, Gigi.” I smiled, taking a towel and handing it to Naomi.

“Thank you, Gigi,” Naomi said while wrapping the towel around her.

“Of course, everyone.” Gigi smiled, handing me a towel. “Don’t worry. If it stops raining and everyone dries off, we’ll play a round of volleyball or croquet.” She pointed to a bag, with mallets sticking out. “That’s Mom’s favourite game whenever she comes here.”

But before we could continue to dry off, a black figure with a banshee voice screaming, appeared. The rain screening off its full appearance.

And we know exactly what it was, too.

 _Goddamned Guzzlord. It’s back,_ I thought to myself.

 _Oh shit!_ I swore I heard Gigi’s and Naomi’s thoughts.

And it wasn’t alone either, as it had others with it. And it was coming straight for us.


	2. VS Guzzlord!

Chapter 2

**Naomi’s POV**

“M-mom… wha-what is that?” Larissa screamed, falling flat on her butt, eyes wide with fear.

Kaimana, Crisipo and Argenta began barking like crazy, already moving into attack. The other Pokémon began to follow, attacking it as well.

“You got to me kidding me,” Nanu hissed under his breath.

Rain still poured in sheets, but I could see the shape was Guzzlord and I could see it was coming. I looked behind me to see that Gigi was comforting Larissa, but I could tell Gigi was still quite scared. I groaned, irritated that the fact that the UB was back, and the fact that it wasn’t too long ago that we helped rebuild Alola.

“Oh-hoho… what’s this?” a familiar voice sneered.

But before she could jump off, a bolt of lightning streaked through the sky and with a mighty thunder, a small Pokémon that glowed light blue materialised in front of us. And just like that, the rain fizzled off its fur, with the rain disappearing completely.

I looked over at Nanu, blinking. I noticed his expression was ‘what just happened?’, mixed with a look of shock and awe. I approached him and lowered my voice to a whisper. “What in the world? Why’d the rain just disappear like that?”

“Was the rain caused by that weird Pokémon?” he asked.

I turned around to get a better look at it. I then noticed there was a smaller Pokémon on its back. “Hey, there’s a smaller Pokémon on its back.”

Once Gigi was done comforting her daughter, she stood up and looked at the both of us. “Those are the two Pokémon that were in my dream 10 years ago.”

The larger Pokémon turned around to look at us. “I’m Thorium.” He was a short, bipedal catlike Pokémon, mostly slate blue, and bluebell in colour. He had beautiful light bluish-white stripes on his chest, whiskers and tuft of hair that glowed slightly. He had big, thick paws with long, sharp claws. His back legs were lanky but long, with shorter claws. His muzzle was short and ended in a small, light-coloured nose. His ears were thick, and the insides were blackish blue in colour. He looked at me with bright bluish-white eyes, completely focused on us.

“I’m Beornwynn!” the second smaller Pokémon said in a small, yet confident voice. She was a small, bearlike Pokémon, mostly pale silvery brown in colour. She was short, only standing just a little bit below hip height. She had white fur around her head that resembled a white bandana and a small white spot under her throat that resembled a bowtie. Around her ears and her cheeks, she had tufts of hair that stuck out. She had small claws on both front and back feet. Her muzzle was light yellow in colour and ended in a tiny, black nose. She had dark grey eyes with white pupils, which sparkled in the dim sunlight.

“Get out of my way! You little shits!” Lusamine sneered, with venom in her voice. She climbed down the back of Guzzlord, landing on the ground with a grunt of effort.

Thorium and Beornwynn turned around to face Lusamine, forming their muzzles into a snarl. Both of their fists began to glow yellow, crackling with electricity. They easily avoided Lusamine’s angry kicks, both punching her at the same time, causing her to collapse and convulse a little.

My eyes widened, shocked at what had just happened. “I—”

“Can’t believe it!” Nanu finished my sentence.

Guzzlord had then noticed what happened and began to attack the duo, but they easily managed to avoid its large arms. The other Pokémon soon joined in, but many of them were knocked out of the way, unable to move quick enough to avoid its massive arms.

“You there, grab Lusamine and we’ll take care of Guzzlord. I don’t want her to get in the way of it attacking and I don’t want her to attack.” Thorium looked over at Gigi.

Gigi blinked, pointing to herself. “Me?” she questioned.

“Yes, you.” Thorium nodded, reaffirming what he had just stated.

Gigi nodded, watching them closely. When the coast was clear and Guzzlord was distracted, she walked on over towards Lusamine. Despite not being as strong as I was, she was easily able to lift her and carry her. She carefully set her down next to the wall of her house.

We all turned our attentions towards the unconscious Lusamime. She was breathing shallowly, chest rising slowly, twitching a little. We noticed that she was thin, with ribs and wrists showing through the skin, which meant that had to be starving, and it made me wonder what she had been eating for the past decade. Not only that, her clothes were tattered as well, exposing various parts of her body.

“Look how skinny she is,” Acerola said melancholically.

“I wondered why she was so light and easy for me to carry.” Gigi grabbed her wrist, feeling for a pulse. “Her pulse is really shallow, and I can barely feel it. I’m not sure how she’s still alive. I think she’s starving.” She touched her forehead. “She’s burning up too.”

“Which means she probably has a fever.” I looked at her with concern.

“She is a criminal… but maybe it’s best we take her to a hospital first? She may have mental issues.” Nanu looked at her with concern.

“I’m not an expert, but I believe she may have narcissistic personality disorder,” Molayne commented.

“I have a feeling you’re right,” Hapu agreed.

“Mom… is this the lady you told me about?” Larissa questioned, curious but concerned.

Gigi looked over at her daughter. “Yes, that’s right.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry you had to meet her.”

“No, Mom, it’s okay.” Larissa smiled, chuckling a little. “I’m not scared of her or anything. She looks pretty peaceful right now.”

“Those Pokémon really did a number on her.” I turned my attention back towards the Pokémon. I noticed several of the Pokémon had fainted and the few that were left; Kaimana, Blu, Thorium, Beornwynn, Crisipo and Argenta; were struggling.

“Argenta!” I yelled. “Don’t forget about your form that resembles me!”

“Oh, right!” she barked loudly, bolts of electricity surrounding her whole body in a bright aura. She snarled, the aura disappearing. The front of her crest and the quills on the back of her crest were now black, as well as the border of her fin. The ruff of feathers turned black and resembled my hair and her eyes were now dark brown, resembling my eye colour, her neck and the bottom ruff of feathers were dark blue, the same colour as my uniform. She turned around, looked at me and we locked eyes.

“You got this.” I held my hand up to my heart. I could now see from her point of view and I could feel every pain she was feeling. But I remained strong and stood my ground.

“Mom, what is that?” Larissa asked.

“That’s called the battle bond. It’s an amazing phenomenon and it only happens when a person and Pokémon are bonded heart-to-heart. It’s like Z-moves,” Gigi explained. “I wish I had the same bond as her with one of my Pokémon.”

“That’s amazing.” Larissa walked up towards me, so she could observe more closely.

“Argenta, use Tri-Attack!” I commanded.

“Yes m’am!” Argenta barked, jumping onto Guzzlord’s back, which confused it and almost knocked her off, but she dug her claws in hard. Three different coloured orbs formed in her muzzle: one was light blue; one was orange and one was yellow. This attack seemed to have caught it off-guard, allowing her to jump off its back without it attacking her.

Before Argenta could make another move, the Guzzlord fainted, causing a small earthquake in the area because of how heavy it was.

I saw Nanu’s face light up as he reached into a jeans pocket, grabbing a small blue Poké ball. He clicked and enlarged it, tossing it. “Go, Beast Ball!”

We all held our breath as the giant Pokémon was sucked into the ball. Then ball shook twice and clicked, indicating that he had caught it. We all collectively sighed and watched as the ball disappeared, off to Kahi’s lab. Everyone gave him a variation of congrats to him.

“I-I caught it! Wow! What?” Nanu blinked, befuddled. “I don’t believe my eyes,” he stated quietly, his voice wavering, and eyes watering a little. He started chuckling mirthlessly.

“I don’t believe it either.” I smiled, putting my hands around his neck, kissing him on the forehead. I turned my attentions back towards Lusamine, to see that she was still knocked out. I cocked my head and noticed a band around her neck.

“Naomi? Is there something on your mind?” Hapu asked.

“Look.” I pointed at Lusamine’s neck. “There’s a necklace around her neck.”

Hapu’s eyes lit up when she noticed it. “You’re right. Should we look at it?”

“Hmm.” I put my hand on my chin. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t hurt.”

“I wonder what’s on the end of the necklace?” Nanu asked.

I approached Lusamine, carefully grabbing the necklace and unhooking it, trying not to be too inappropriate. I looked at the necklace up close.

It was golden in colour, with tiny links that were carefully welded together. On the end of the necklace was a small, heart-shaped locket, which was sealed shut by a tiny hinge. I carefully unlocked the locket, only for there to be a tiny picture inside it, of two children, appearing to be siblings and somewhat resembling Lusamine.

The first child was a blonde girl, maybe around 12, with long hair tied up into a ponytail and bright green eyes. She was wearing a beautiful white skirt with frills on the bottom and two baby blue ribbons around the collar. The other child was only slightly older, maybe around 15, with blond short hair, that was partially hung down the right side of his face and partially comb-backed on the back of his head, and bright green eyes, of which resembled the other child’s. He was wearing a black jacket with a red stripe down the middle, resembling a claw scratch, as well as a pair of black trousers. He had two studs on his left ear, but they looked as if they were simply magnetic and not actually piercings.

Something about the children piqued my interested, as I turned around to show the others. “Something about these children seem familiar to me. What do you think?”

Acerola’s eyes lit up. “Hey, isn’t that Gladion and Lillie?”

“Ohhh. Those children that live just up the road, right? I guess they aren’t children anymore, huh? They’re probably adults now, because they were not much older than Hapu and Acerola.” Nanu nodded. “I suspect they’re wondering what happened to their mother. I think I recall overhearing someone mention that. Maybe we ought to go and see them.”

“You’re welcome to go, but I think I’ll stay here and take care of her.” Gigi smiled slightly. “Her pain reminds me of mine, being stuck in Ultra Space.”

“All right, sounds fair.” I smiled slightly, nodding. I looked over at Molayne. “You have fluids you can give her, right?”

“IVs? I don’t have any IVs, but I do have some bottles of Feraligade,” Molayne answered.

I nodded. “Okay, that will work. I’m sure she’s starving, but she can’t eat too much, or she’ll vomit. I recommend giving her something small, maybe a small bowl of soup or a small serving of fruit or crackers, something that’s not too strong, like fish.”

“Isn’t there a way to make your own Feraigade, aunt Naomi?” Larissa asked.

“That’s correct. It might actually be healthier too.” I smiled at her. “Do you know how to make it yourself?” I rubbed the top of her head, messing up her hair playfully.

“Hey!” she protested, fixing her hair. “I can make it myself. It’s water, some lemon juice, some sugar and salt.”

“That’s correct.” I nodded. I looked back over at Nanu. “Shall we head to their house? I believe it’s just up the road.”

“Yeah, we should head that way now.” He turned around and looked at Molayne and Gigi. “Will you be all right without us?”

“We’ll stay with them,” Acerola offered.

“Yeah, we will be fine.” Molayne smiled. “Congrats on the capture, again.”

“Thank you,” Nanu replied happily, smiling slightly.

Nanu and I went inside Gigi’s house, returning all our Pokémon, changing clothes and getting ready to go. We were quiet the whole time, unsure of what to say to each other, as we were both trying to get over the shock of seeing Lusamine and Nanu catching Guzzlord.

The trek up the road to Lusamine’s children’s house was quiet, but we were in a good mood, as Nanu had a small but relieved smile and a soft look upon his usually scowling look.

We soon approached a small bungalow. It was mostly white in colour, with grey and brown roof tiles. The roof was a gable, with two dormer windows, surrounded by white trims. Even the door was white with white trims. The porch, a veranda, was huge and long. The veranda had a small table, a fan, a chess set, two red chairs and several pots with various herbs and vegetables in them.

My eyes widened when I realised some of the plants were rare and not normally found in Alola, but usually found in Guyana, Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh.

The first plant I looked at was a beautiful bromeliad called _Puya alpestris_ , with beautiful, unearthly, metallic deep turquoise blooms with gorgeous orange anthers; the leaves are silvery spikes, looking somewhat like a pineapple, which it is related to.

The next plant was a _Vanda sanderiana,_ a beautiful but often over-collected species that’s popular to florists because of its beautiful pink flowers with brownish-purple spots and insect-looking sepals. There was an even rare form of the species, with white and greenish-yellow petals. The pots that the orchids were sitting next to each other, their flowers touching in almost embrace.

The last plant was a _Solanum mammosum_ , a small but beautiful plant that had interesting-shaped orange fruits that resembled a human breast on one end and the other end resembling a Miltank’s udders, but most people say they resemble a Zorua or Nickit’s face. The plant is toxic and not edible, resembles a tomato and is related to it, but is often used as decorations.

“Hey, are you done orgasming over the plants, Naomi?” Nanu half-teased, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Oh, sorry, I’m done orgasming over the plants,” I muttered. “But these plants don’t grow wild in Alola.”

“I believe you because I’ve never seen any of these plants before. They’re quite exotic-looking.” He turned around and knocked on the beautiful white door.

“COMING!” I heard from within the inside the house. I heard the door unlocking and a young woman opened the door, only opening it just a crack, but from what little I could see, she appeared surprised at our appearance. “You’re the Kahuna, right?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “What are you doing here? I’ve never seen you around here before.”

“Hey, ma’am—” Nanu was cut off.

“No. I would rather speak to her.” She then noticed me and looked at me, her face relaxing.

Nanu scowled, cocked his head, and shrugged. “Maybe she’s not comfortable,” he muttered under his breath, but I could hear him.

She finally opened the door further and I could finally get a better look at her. She mostly resembled the old photo, albeit much older. She was wearing an Alice blue skirt with Alice blue shorts. On her feet were white dress shoes. Her hair was long and beautiful, in a gorgeous French braid.

“Listen, hon, we’ve found your mother, Lusamine,” I explained.

“I’m Lillie. My brother isn’t here right now, but I will let him know that you found our mother.” Tears started to form in her eyes. “First we lost our father, found him and now we’ve lost our mother, and you found him.” She stepped outside the door, wrapping her arms around me, and crying.

I smiled, comforting her, wrapping my arms around her as well. “Let it all out…”

She finally stopped crying, released her grip from me and looked up at me. “I will wait until Brother comes home, so we can see her together. I don’t feel comfortable doing it alone. Where is she?”

“She’s at my friend’s house, just down the road.” I pointed towards the south. “She has a bungalow too; you can’t miss it. It’s larger than this one.”

“We’ll see you there, then, Lillie.” Nanu smiled, trying to hide his normally hardened face.

“Thank you, what are your names, by the way?”

“I’m Naomi and this is Nanu.”

“That’s right! All right, I appreciate you coming by.” She waved. “Goodbye!” She turned around and slowly closed the door.

\---000—

Nanu and I were quiet on the way back to Gigi’s house. We both noticed something as we were passing along a beach near her house. By then, the sun was half-way through the sky and the sun would set soon. It was a large greyish-yellow lump lying down on the beach in the dulling sunlight. We both looked at each other and in a mutual agreement, we nodded and approached it, carefully, just in case if it was a threat.

When we approached them, we both realised they were a large Kommo-o, totem-sized, appearing larger than normal. Their scales were subtly different than the usual Kommo-o, being a different shade of greyish-brown, yellow, the feathery scales being a whitish-blue. Instead of some of their scales being red, they were blue. They were covered in many scars and some of its claws were partially broken off.

“Nanu, we can’t just leave this guy here. It looks as if they’re in excruciating pain.” 

“You’re right. They look huge though, can we even carry them?”

“We can certainly try carrying them.” I put my hand on my chin.

“Kommo-o are somewhat human-shaped. Maybe we can wrap our arms under their armpits and carry them that way?”

“You’re right, let’s try that.” I nodded. I slowly approached the Dragon-type, careful of not make he or she angry, but they appeared to be knocked out. I carefully wrapped my arms under their right armpit, heaving them onto my back. I watched as Nanu did the same thing, noticing that some of the weight had been lifted from my shoulder.

I felt guilty for letting their tail and lower legs dragging that ground, but I knew we were close to her house and he or she was knocked out, probably not even noticing and was in probably more pain than just a simple tail drag.

When we made it to Gigi’s house, we noticed that they were outside, sitting on some lawn chairs, drinking pina coladas, chatting amongst themselves, not really paying attention to us.

“GIGI! MOLAYNE!” I called out.

The two looked shocked as we approached them, but they saw that we were struggling a little bit. The two walked up and approached us.

“We have an extra bed. Follow me,” Gigi urged. “We can help carry him.”

“Yes please,” I sighed in relief, letting her take over my position.

“Yes, thank you,” Nanu sighed too, letting Molayne take his place.

We followed them to an empty room in the house and all four of us placed him on an empty bed, careful as to not hurt them even more than they already were. We all stood around the bed, relaxing a little, watching he or she breathe slowly and rhythmically.

“Where on earth did you find this Kommo-o? He looks like he’s in a lot of pain. So many scars and half-missing claws,” Gigi asked. She placed her hand on their forehead, a small area underneath their head scale. “He’s burning up too.”

“What makes you think this guy is a male?” I asked. “I thought reptilian Pokémon didn’t really have any dimorphism.”

Gigi sniggered a little. “I’m just guessing, but the only way to know is to just shove a finger up their cloaca, but I don’t recommend doing that, especially the fact that they can’t consent to that. If it goes past your wrist, then it’s a male. If it only goes past your second knuckle, then it’s a female.”

“Oh! Is that how you do that?” I chuckled mirthlessly. “Riiight…”

“She’s right,” Nanu chuckled. “Whether you believe her or not.”

“It’s true. I’m no biologist, but I do know some of these things.” Molayne nodded.

“Fine,” I muttered. “I admit defeat. I’m going to strangle you if this guy isn’t a male, though,” I teased.

“Well, I guess I’ll be prepared, then,” Gigi chuckled.

“Wow! Is that a Kommo-o?” a small but mighty voice said. I recognised it as Larissa. “I was taking a nap and I wake up to see this! Where did you find him?”

“Nanu and I found him on the beach near your house. I believe we spotted him at the same time.”

“He looks so peaceful asleep…” She walked up to the bed and plopped herself next to him. She started to pet him, but luckily, he didn’t react. In a soft, calm voice, she began to sing to him. “Ferme tes yeux, mon ange, Prends ton envol, rejoins-moi, Un monde merveilleux t’attend, Des rêves enchantés, pour toi…”

“I taught that…” Gigi smiled. “I’m so glad she knows quite a bit of French.”

My eyes felt heavy and realisation of feeling tired suddenly hit me. “I’m feeling tired… I think a nap is in order.”

“We have some cots we can set up. If you don’t mind sharing a room with either Lusamine or Kommo-o.” Molayne turned around and looked at me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“Sure. I do not mind sharing a room with Kommo-o. I feel like he _is_ my responsibility anyway.” I looked over at Nanu.

“Sure. I agree with Naomi anyway. We’re the ones that found him anyway, so we should be by his side.” Nanu yawned and his eyes started to water. “We might as well stay the night anyway.”

“All right, I’ll go grab the cots, I will be right back,” Molayne said as he walked off, turning a corner.

I smiled as I watched Larissa continuing to comfort the huge Kommo-o. “You’re a good boy. I love you.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, jumping off the bed and exiting the room. “I’ll be in the other room, if you need me,” she said with a huge smile on her face.

“Thank you, Larissa,” Nanu said with a smile.

“I appreciate it, hon.” I smiled too.

“Thank you for being so kind, Larissa. I’m proud of you. Keep it up.” Gigi smiled.

“You’re welcome!” she said in a sing-song voice, turning the corner, skipping.

“She’s excited to be leaving here soon,” Gigi sighed, looking exasperated.

“I’m not ready for my little girl to leave… but I guess it’s part of life,” Molayne said while returning with two cots. “Sorry they aren’t the best, but this is all we have right now. We need to go and buy new ones, but they aren’t really a necessity for us right now.”

“I’ll go get some sheets, pillows and pillowcase,” Gigi offered Molayne.

“All right, appreciate it, Gigi.” Molayne looked over at us, smiling and setting the cots down on the ground. He unbuckled both, unfolding them and setting them down on the ground.

Gigi soon returned with some sheets, pillows, and pillowcases, spreading the sheets onto the cots, and putting the cases around the pillows, setting them down onto the cots. She smiled, satisfied with what she had done and because she was helping us feel at home. “There. If you don’t like anything, let me know, and I’ll try my best to fix it. Have a good nap!”

“Thank you, Gigi and Molayne.” I smiled, nodding.

“Thank you, guys.” Nanu smiled and sighed softly.

“You’re welcome,” the two said in unison, leaving the room and Gigi closing the door behind her.

I sighed in relief, taking my uncomfortable jeans off. “Hey… that was nice of them to let us stay the night. Don’t you think? It’s been a while since we last spent the night here, but normally we sleep on this bed.”

Nanu nodded, taking off his jeans as well. “You’re right. I’m glad she let us stay here again.”

“I’m glad she didn’t move to Galar. I would have been distraught if she did.”

“I know you would. I know how much you love and care about her. I’m glad we have her as a good friend.” Nanu yawned, stretching, nestling into the cot, and pulling the sheet up to his shoulders. “Well, have a good nap.”

“You too,” I said as I nestled into the cot, pulling the sheet up to my chest. I instantly fell asleep, exhaustion overcoming me.

I woke up from a dreamless nap. I yawned, stretching, looking at my watch, noticing it was already 4:30. I got up, uncovering myself from the sheet. I looked over at Nanu, noticing he was still out cold. I then turned my attentions towards the Kommo-o, noticing he was stirring a little. I turned around, grabbing my jeans and tried to put them on, only to notice that the Kommo-o was beginning to wake up.

That’s when he opened his eyes and looked over at me. He said in a calm but somewhat rough voice. “Iolana…” he simply said.

I dropped my jeans, covering my mouth with my hand to keep from screaming. I collapsed backwards on my butt, back onto the cot. My eyes were wider than pie pans and I was too shocked to react. I didn’t even notice that Nanu had awoken, as he was now shaking me, trying to get me to snap out the state I was in.

“Iolana… my Iolana… I found you…” the Kommo-o said again.

I instantly recognised the voice as my uncle, ‘Iwalani.

He was alive.

And he was a Pokémon.

A huge flood of emotions overcame me as I jumped up, wrapping my arms around him, and hugging him tightly.

I couldn’t believe my goddamned eyes and ears.


	3. Larissa, the Dragon Tamer?

Chapter 3

**Nanu’s POV**

“What the hell did you just call her?” I asked, curious but a bit irritated as well as shocked. No one knew her middle name, as she often didn’t use it and never used it on any legal documents.

“Nanu!” Naomi hissed, wiping some tears from her face.

“We never met…” he coughed, sputum escaping his mouth, splattering, and dirtying up the plain Alice blue sheets. “I’m ‘Iwalani…” he said weakly. “I’m sorry… I’ve been sick. I feel like my body is going out on me. You wouldn’t happen to have something to eat? I’m starving.”

That’s when I realised, he was actually speaking English and not Pokémon. “Wait. You’re speaking English like Cyril!” 

“You’re right, he is.” Naomi nodded. “Uncle Lani… please tell me what happened. How you ended up in the body of a Kommo-o.”

He cleared his throat, nodding and slowly sitting up like a human. “Fine. Back in 1990, I got a tip of some people cooking meth. It turns out they weren’t cooking meth but experimenting with humans and Pokémon. This is something that crossed the line of morality; it was evil, no doubt about it. When I was looking around their lab, there was nothing there at the time. I had no idea someone was watching me. Remember that day I had to fish a body out from the river? Well, when I was surfacing, I felt someone grab me…  
“Next thing I knew, I was inside a lab, strapped to a lab table. Oh… how cold it was. I shudder every time I think about that. Next to me, was a huge Kommo-o. He was scared, moaning and suffering. My first thought was these people were poachers. Oh, how wrong I was!” A snarl rose from his throat. He cleared his throat again, and continued, “I don’t remember what happened after that, except being in excruciating pain. It was the worst pain I had ever been in.  
“I think my brain chooses to try not to remember. Next thing I knew, I was inside the body of that scared, helpless Kommo-o. I could see that the Kommo-o was now trapped inside my body. I couldn’t do anything. I was so doped up and weak, scared, plus, I was trapped in a cage.  
“That’s when I watched and saw they injected pentobarbital into my body. I was overcome with grievous shock and hysteria, I hurled, but I couldn’t do anything. He was dead. _I was_ dead, or that’s what I felt like, my soul had died that day. I saw them leave and overheard their plans to make my murder seem like an accident. They said, ‘release the gas from the scuba gear’. So, from what I could interpret, they dumped my body back into that river, to make my murder seem like an ‘accident’.”

“Uncle, I’m—”

“Naomi…” He smiled slightly, the best he could. “I’m fine now. It took me a while to get used to my new body. It took me months to escape their lab. I admit, I quite like this body… I know I’m sick, but I feel so much younger now. I loved living in the wild too, because of how exhilarating it is.”

Naomi wrapped her arms around him again and rubbed his back. “If I tell Dad, he’s going to be shocked… I won’t tell him the truth. That was horrifying to hear.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I just nodded. “Probably for the best anyway.”

“You can call me Mo’olani… I think the name fits me.”

“It’s nice to meet you finally…” I smiled slightly.

“I can’t believe you’re still alive… this whole time, everyone thought you were dead.”

“And we should keep it that way… well, to your family at least. That little girl that sang to me…” He smiled. “What is her name?”

“Oh, that’s Larissa, my best friend’s daughter.” Naomi smiled.

“Larissa… she is a kind soul. Her singing calmed me down.” He coughed again, clearing his throat. “I need some medicine and something to eat. Please.” He turned around, hanging his feet off the bed, jumping off it. He wrapped his arms around the both of us. “Thank you…”

“It was my pleasure.” I nodded.

“Anything for you, Uncle. I’ll get you something to eat. Here, come along with me. You should go meet the others. I think Larissa would love to know that’s you’ve woken up.” She turned around, putting her jeans back on. “Sorry…”

“No, no, no… I wiped your ass when you were a baby. Nothing I haven’t already seen!” he teased.

Naomi began to laugh and started to cry again. “Uncle… we have some catching up to do… You’ve been gone for so damn long!”

I chuckled slightly, feeling a little bit uncomfortable as I slipped my jeans back on. “I’ll leave you two along. I’ll grab you something to eat, ‘Iwalani.” I turned around, opening the door.

“I would appreciate that, sir.”

“I’m Bellinor Nanu. Most of my friends call me Nanu, though.” I turned around, smiling, exiting the room. I made my way down the long, light blue hallway. I could hear Larissa, Acerola and Hapu playing video games in the living room and I could hear Molayne and Gigi talking in low, hushed I voices in their kitchen/dining room.

I made my way into the living room, which was on the way towards the kitchen. I felt a presence behind me, turned around and saw Naomi and ‘Iwalani. “Ah, decided to join me?”

“Yeah. I’m hungry too. I wonder if they’ve made some dinner.” Naomi licked her lips. Her stomach growled so loud that I could hear it. “Oh God…”

I chuckled as we made our way to the kitchen, where Molayne and Gigi were, sitting around their dining table, drinking hot tea. Ironically, the kids were too wrapped up in their video game to notice us. “Hey there.”

“Hey! Did you have a good nap?” Gigi asked.

“I did, thanks for asking.” I smiled, nodding.

“Of course. I appreciate you letting us stay.”

“Anything for you guys.” Gigi smiled.

“It was my pleasure.” Molayne nodded, grabbing a bright white mug from off the table, taking a sip. “Would you like some hot tea?” he asked.

That’s when Gigi noticed ‘Iwalani standing next to us. “There he is. How is he?”

“I’m sorry… I coughed onto the bed. I’ll wash the sheets.” He had a defeated look upon his face. “This is hard to explain, but I’m ‘Iwalani. My brain was switched.”

Gigi and Molayne looked at each other and gave each other a shocked look, furrowing their brows, but the two nodded in understanding, curious about him. Their furrowed brows turned into smiles.

“Reminds me of Cyril and his team.” Gigi put her hand on her chin, musing.

“Oh yes. I remember him.” Molayne nodded.

“May I have a seat? Please tell me about this Cyril. It’s good to know I’m not the only one whose brain was switched.”

“Yes. Naomi, Nanu, please sit too.” Gigi smiled. “I’m Gigi and this is Molayne. The distracted children are Hapu, Acerola and, Larissa.”

“It is nice to meet you, everyone.”

Naomi and I sat down while saying thank you. We watched as Molayne got up, grabbed three mugs, filled them with hot water from an electric kettle and plopped some tea bags into the mugs. We thanked him for giving us some hot tea and asked us what we wanted to eat.

“Hmm… let’s see, we instant mac and cheese, chicken noodle soup—” 

“People still eat Pokémon?” ‘Iwalani cocked his head, confused. “Before I became a Pokémon, it was starting to become taboo.

“It’s made from mesenchymal cells. It’s lab-based. Would you like to try it?” Molayne asked. “It honestly no difference, which is a little scary.”

“I think I’d flip out if someone was slaughtering actual Pokémon,” I sighed.

“I will try it. It honestly sounds good.” ‘Iwalani nodded.

“All right, some soup coming up.”

“Did someone say soup?” Larissa asked as she entered the room. She then noticed ‘Iwalani, gasping and walking up to him. “Aww! It’s the Kommo-o!” she said happily, sitting on his lap, smiling. She then hugged him.

He carefully wrapped his giant, scaly arms around her, smiling. “Larissa, huh? You’re such a gentle soul,” he said in perfect Pokémon language. His hardened face belied his kindness and despite his pensiveness, his eyes were soft.

“I’m starving! I overheard the word soup!” Acerola said happily, walking into the kitchen.

“Yeah. I’m really hungry too!” Hapu walked in as well, behind Acerola.

“Well, we have plenty of soup for everyone.” Molayne smiled, grabbing three cans of soup.

Everyone had eaten their fill and met ‘Iwalani. Everyone was excited to meet him, as Naomi talked about him so often. We walked down to the beach, to relax by the water, listen to the waves crashing and watch the sun set and the stars.

The sky was painted in gorgeous purples, lavenders, oranges, pinks, greys and blues. Once the sun set, the sky was carpeted in thousands, maybe millions of uncountable stars, bright white and twinkling. The Moon was a slim crescent in the sky.

Molayne and I helped set up a campfire to roast some kebabs with pineapples, peppers, hot dogs, mushrooms, corn, squash, tomatoes and onions, drizzled in barbecue sauce. The smell wafted throughout the whole beach, causing my stomach to growl.

Flare, Argenta, Firium, Noelani, Hurricane, Kaimana, Crisipo, Fenrir, Aquajet, Dale, Bandida, Markab all sat down next to each other, while Remy, Alceste, Paola, Petrel, Zephyra, Blu, Gemma, Rusty, Thuban, Mimikins, sat opposite of them. Sitting off by himself, was ‘Iwalani, who was chatting with everyone, explaining what had happened to him and how he had managed to survive escaping a lab and living in the wild. By the time he had finished his story, dinner was ready and everyone gathered ‘round and took a kebab.

“…There you have it,” he let out a long sigh, grabbing a kebab. “That’s how I’ve managed for the past 14 years.”

“That’s amazing! I can’t believe it.” Argenta cocked her head, grabbing a kebab with her beak.

I smiled, watching everyone grab their food, grabbing one myself. “Say, where did Thorium and Beornwynn go?” I asked Gigi, placing my hand on my chin.

“They disappeared shortly after you left to go to Gladion and Lillie’s house. We’re not sure where the two went. They are wild Pokémon after all, so I have a feeling they’re scared.” Gigi nodded.

“Maybe they’ll show up again.” I smiled. I looked off in the distance, noticing a Pokémon in the shadows, hiding between the trees. “There’s a Pokémon in the trees over there.” I pointed nonchalantly, trying not to draw attention towards the mystery Pokémon. “Ps-ps-ps…” I hissed, trying to attract its attention.

The Pokémon cocked their head, swivelling their ears forward, letting out a tiny bark. They approached slowly, with cautious steps. That’s when I took the time to carefully throw an extra kebab, when I noticed everyone took one, when they came closer to the fire.

“Pspspsps…” I hissed again, which kept catching the attention of the Pokémon.

They approached closer this time, cocking their head and grabbing the kebab, which they immediately started eating. The light and glow helped me to be able to see the mystery Pokémon, when I noticed it was a Midday Lycanroc. But this one was different: she had long, stilt-like legs, a bushier tail with two colours instead of one; they also had a weird mark on the right flank, a mark I recognised as Lunala’s sigil. I saw that she was a female, as she had a large belly and swollen teets, and I knew she was pregnant.

“How did you think to do that?” Gigi asked. “The weird hissing sound.”

“Oh? It’s something my dad taught me. A lot of Carnivora, such as dogs, cats and weasels, Pokémon react to that sound, because it sounds like their prey, like mice and rats.”

She licked her lips, finishing off the kebab, without eating the stick. “You guys are so nice to me,” she barked quietly, plopping herself onto the ground while letting out a baleful whine. Her ears relaxed and her eyes watered as she began to cry. “I’ve lost everything…”

“What? Can you come closer?” I asked.

“Yes…” she said defeatedly, limping on her left back leg, as she walked up. She sat down, her tail wagging slowly, as if in sadness. All I saw in her eyes was despair, but they spoke a thousand words. “My mate, he was murdered by a pack of rogue Mightyena. I had never seen so much blood. I’m starving because those Mightyena restrained me, grabbing my leg but they spared me when they saw I was pregnant… I could barely walk and run.”

“We won’t hurt you,” Naomi said calmly. “Come here, sweetheart.”

The Lycanroc let out a quiet whine, wagging her tail slowly, walking closer to the fire and plopping herself near Kaimana. A blush crept onto his face when he noticed she was close and purred quietly near her, licking the top of the head. He said something to her in a hushed tone, but I couldn’t tell what he said, but whatever he said, it made her wag her tail happier than beforehand.

I had remembered that Kaimana and Zephyra had an open relationship, as Zephyra didn’t seem to be offended by the Lycanroc sitting so close to him. I also wondered what drew her towards him, maybe his usually bubbly but understanding personality, a trait which he shared with Gigi. I knew him for ten years, but I still couldn’t believe that was her father, reincarnated into the Type: Full.

I noticed there was a few more kebabs leftover, off towards the side of the fire, as to make sure they didn’t burn, but still stayed warm. I was satiated and had enough, so I grabbed it and approached her carefully. When she saw I had another kebab, her tail wagged happily and her tongue was lolling. “Here. I’m sure you’re starving, carrying a baby and all. What is your name?”

“My name is Pōaka. Thank you, human. What is everyone’s name?” she asked.

“I’m Nanu.” I placed my hand on my chest. “This is Naomi,” I said while pointing.

“Hello, nice to meet you!” Naomi said happily.

“This is Acerola.” I pointed.

“Hi, I’m Acerola, your friendly ghost whisperer!”

“This is Hapu.” I pointed towards her. “This is Acerola’s wife.”

“Nice to meet you, they call me the Mudsdale whisperer and proud wife of Acerola.”

“This is Larissa.”

“I’m Larissa, the dragon tamer.” She smiled, rubbing Lani’s right cheek.

“This is Ghislaine and Molayne, Larissa’s mother and father.”

“Hello! Nice to meet you!” the two said in unison.

“Wow, everyone is so friendly…” Pōaka blushed.

“That’s all of us for the humans. I’ll introduce all the Pokémon now. This is Argenta, Hurricane, Dale, Noelani and ‘Iwalani, Naomi’s Pokémon.” I pointed. “Remy, Paola, Alceste, Kaimana and Zephyra, Ghislaine’s Pokémon.” I pointed to all them respectfully. “This is Petrel, Molayne’s righthand bird. Molayne also has a Magnezone and Dugtrio, but they stay at his workplace, guarding it.” I pointed at Petrel. “This is Thuban, Larissa’s partner Pokémon.” I pointed at the Jangmo-o. “This is Aquajet, Gemma, Firium, Rusty, Blu, and Flare, my Pokémon.” I pointed. “And this Bandida, Crisipo and Fenrir, Hapu’s Pokémon and Acerola’s Pokémon are Mimikins and Markab, Bandida and Dale’s son.”

Everyone introduced themselves, all talking amongst each other, repeating the same things “hello! Nice to meet you! Will you stay with us?”

She didn’t seem overwhelmed and she went up and greeted everyone, licking everyone happily. “Nice to meet you! I’ll think about staying…” she said while lying down next to Kaimana, closing her eyes and yawning.

“You’ll be safe with us,” Kaimana said softly. He then looked over up at Gigi. “Gigi, can we—”

“You don’t have to ask me again,” she interrupted. “I know you want to help her. Whenever you want to leave, just let me know. You can pick whoever you want.”

“Pōaka, you lead the way.” He nodded. He looked around at everyone else. “Hmm… ‘Iwalani, you don’t mind joining me, do you?”

“No, I don’t mind,” he replied, but looked over at Naomi after answering. “Naomi, you don’t mind me joining your team, do you?”

“It would be an honour.” She smiled, grabbing an empty Poké ball, setting it on the ground.

“Well. Here goes!” He tapped the ball, disappearing into it as a red beam.

Naomi grabbed the ball and let him back out. “Come on back out.”

“Thank you, Naomi,” he said while materialising. “Now I don’t have to worry about being caught, eh?”

“That’s right!” She smiled.

“I’m glad.” Kaimana nodded. “Zephyra, I choose you to be our scout.”

“Thanks, honey!” she said gleefully.

“Of course.” He nodded. “I’ll bring Firium, Argenta, Crisipo, Rusty and Flare, Fenrir, Markab, Dale and Bandida, they can bring up the rear. Noelani can be our medic.” 

“When should we leave?” Fenrir asked, cocking her head.

“How about tomorrow, at dawn?” Kaimana asked.

“Sounds fair to me,” Flare barked.

“That works for me,” Firium mewed.

“I agree.” Noelani nodded.

“I want everyone to be safe,” I warned them snappily, but without malice.

“You know what, I will look for an old radio I used to use. I can hook up a GPS device to someone’s neck,” Gigi offered. “Turn it on when you get close.”

“I’ll carry the GPS,” Noelani offered. “After all, I am the most humanlike anyway.”

“Fair enough.” Kaimana nodded.

“I’ll be our medic. I know a lot about herbs and living in the wild. Afterall, I was human anyway,” ‘Iwalani spoke up. “Camping was one of my pastimes.”

“Camping was something I was into, too, when I was a human,” Kaimana mused. “It’s agreed: ‘Iwalani will be our medic, Noelani will carry the GPS, Zephyra will scout ahead, Firium, Argenta, Rusty and Crisipo will be in the frontline and Flare, Fenrir, Markab, Dale and Bandida will bring up the rear. Would anyone else like to come with us? Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

“I want to come with you guys. This old coot still got some life left in her,” Blu mewed.

“Yes, yes, please come along with us, Blu, we’d love it, honest!” Kaimana cawed.

“Blu…? Are you sure?” I asked, concerned, looking at her scrawny frame.

“If I die, Nanu, I promise I will come back.” Tears formed in her eyes. “I may be getting old, but I want to do one last good thing in this world.”

My eyes began to water. “Your choice, then, I cannot force my own Pokémon to stay.” I shook my head.

Gigi looked at me and smiled. “I’m sure she will be fine. She is strong.”

“I agree with Gigi, I’m sure she’ll be fine. She even told you, if she dies, she will promise to come back.” Naomi smiled, trying to belie her sadness. “But what will she come back as?”

“She should give some kind of sign, if she does pass on and is reincarnated.” Molayne cocked his head, placing his hand on his chin.

“She doesn’t let her age stop her, though.” Larissa smiled.

“What would I come back as, or like to…” Blu mused, snickering. “Well, maybe I’d love to come back as a Meowth again.”

I began to chuckle mirthlessly but was unable to control the tears at this point, as I hugged her tightly, my tears soaking her fur; I could feel her ribs through her fur. “Oh, Blu… I love you so much. You’ve been my buddy for so damn long; I hate to lose you.”

“Nanu… I will try my best to be careful, of course.”

“I believe you, honey.” I smiled, petting the top of her head. “It’ll be okay…. I’ll be okay, or I will try.”

“I know you will, Nanu,” she mewed quietly, licking my cheek. “Let’s get some sleep, so we can start tomorrow morning.”

“I think it’s wise to get some rest.” I nodded, smiling. “I’ll help everyone get ready tomorrow.”

\--00—

I watched as everyone ran off into the jungle, only their rumps showing, disappearing into the thick trees. I sighed heavily, unsure of what will happen to them. Before I could turn around, the two mystery Pokémon, Thorium and Beornwynn were standing behind us. I cocked my head, curious, as I could tell they wanted to go too. “You want to go, too?” I asked.

They both looked at each other and nodded. “Yes.”

“They won’t mind. You may go ahead and go,” Naomi urged.

“Yeah. They aren’t going to hurt you, I promise.” Gigi smiled.

“Run along now,” Molayne urged, smiling.

“You can do it!” Larissa cheered.

We all watched as the two ran off towards where the others were going, only their rumps showing as they disappeared into the dense jungle. We all wished and prayed for their safe return, whenever that was.


	4. Adventure in the Foothills!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wanted to try a new POV.

Chapter 4

**Pōaka’s POV**

The sun was barely a sliver in the sky as it was rising, the thousands of stars that carpeted the sky were soon disappearing, giving way to purple, blue and pink hues now painting sky. We had already started on our journey and we had everything we needed. Noelani was carrying a small backpack, with a GPS tracker, a radio, a first aid kit and some potions, berries, and bottles of water.

We were quiet the whole trek, as a I sniffed out the trail back to where my mate and I used to live. It was easily a several hour trek, as my mate and I lived high up into the foothills, away from most humans.

We soon came to a clearing, where we sat and relaxed for a little while to before moving on. I could smell and hear prey scuttling in the underbrush, which made my mouth water, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to stalk my prey and catch it as easily as I was able to before.

That’s when Blu approached me. “Need some help?” she asked. She too, was drooling.

“Of course, I do.” I nodded.

“I’ll help hunt too,” Firium offered. “I admit, I’ve never done it before, but I am willing to learn.”

“I can show you how. Watch me.” I raised my tail when we were close, now stepping quietly and slowly, making absolute sure my tail didn’t drag the ground. “See how my tail isn’t dragging the ground and my paw steps are quiet, slow and deliberate? I always check my surroundings for any loose leaves, twigs, or chunks of rock on the ground before I step. Also, make sure you’re downwind, or you’ll surprise your prey you’re stalking. You’re welcome to watch.” I sniffed out a fresh mouse trail.

There it was, chewing on a kukui nut, distracted and not paying attention. I crept quietly and slowly, making sure it didn’t notice me. I made absolute sure my paws and claws didn’t step on any debris as well. I got within a few feet from it, pounced upon it and dispatched it before it could even react. “And that’s how you do that,” I said while carrying it back to Firium and Blu.

“My mate, Swift, was an amazing hunter. He relied on speed versus stalking. I believe Jon named him that because of how fast he was.”

“I’m glad I got the honour to meet him,” Firium purred.

“Swift? I didn’t know you had a mate, Blu.” I cocked my head, sniffing the air again, smelling a fresh rat trail.

Blu was sniffing the air as well, nodding. “Yes, but he lives on Ula’ula Island. That’s where Nanu and Naomi are from, too. I have a son, too, his name is Obsidian. He lives with his mate and daughter on Mount Lanakila.”

“My mate and I would always look towards Ula’ula and notice that huge mountain looming in the distance. We had always wanted to go there and see it. We had never seen snow before.” I looked over towards the horizon longingly. “I wish these Mightyena hadn’t murdered my mate.”

“Well, if you come with us, then maybe we could go to Mount Lanakila. It’s hard to see from here, but there’s a building up there, called the Pokémon League. Once every three months, Acerola, Molayne and three other people named Hau, Kahili and Olivia, will all meet up there and let trainers from all regions come and compete, to see who’ll win.” Firium pointed towards the top the mountain with his tail. “I’ve gotten to watch many a times. It’s amazing. I see all kinds of Pokémon there, including ones from exotic places such as Sinnoh and Johto.”

“It’s true.” Blu nodded, closing her eyes while twitching her tail, and sighing happily. “I love to go and watch the battles! They’re very exciting. It wasn’t long ago, that Professor Kukui was succeeded by Hau.”

“Professor Kukui, huh? I’ve seen him around before,” I barked. “He’s usually with his Incineroar. Firium… how come you are so different than Kukui’s Incineroar?”

“Well, it’s not a long story, but Nanu and Naomi went on vacation to Oriss, a region that’s far away from here. We were just battling against a gym leader that challenged us to a battle. I was in a pickle. My instincts took over and I evolved. I believe my form is called ‘Ōhuka here in Alola. It’s Alolan for feral, because of the more wild-like look.”

“Interesting. I’ve never heard that term before! Tell me more about Oriss, but after you catch something, I want to see how you’re doing.” I wagged my tail and lolled my tongue. “Remember what I taught you.”

“All right… let’s see…” he muttered while sniffing the air. I watched him run and stalk off, pouncing on a mouse that was distracted by feeding on some grass seeds. He sashayed back happily, dropping the mouse next to the one I caught.

“Great catch!”

“Thank you, Pōaka.”

“Of course. How does it feel catching your own food, instead of humans feeding you?”

“It’s okay. I love Naomi, Gigi, Molayne and Nanu’s cooking. They know what they’re doing, for sure.”

“That’s something I can agree with. They know how to make fruit, beans, veggies, and rice taste delicious, somehow.” Blu nodded, her lips dripping with saliva. “Malasadas too! Those are amazing.”

“My daughter knows how to cook. We should ask her to cook us some malasadas sometime. Pōaka, you might like them. Also, you should eat these. Your belly looks larger than last night, I swear!”

“You’re right. I do need these,” I said while swallowing one whole, without chewing. “And I believe I’ll give birth within the week, perhaps.” I quickly swallowed the other mouse without chewing it. I yawned, feeling sleepy.

“We will keep guard, Pōaka. You’re welcome to sleep.”

“Lunchtime!” Noelani called out to all of us.

“Come on. You’ll love her cooking!” Firium urged.

“Fine.” I nodded, watching the two run off. I slowly ran behind them. When I got close, the smell of human food was loud, but it oddly smelled good. I sat down next to Noelani, sniffing the food, and looking down at the pot. Several little things swirled around in odd-coloured water, but I had no idea what it was.

“Are you curious?” she asked, smiling.

“Yes. It smells heavenly. What exactly is this?” I sniffed the food again. “It smells kind of like what I had last night.”

“Indeed. This is saimin, a dish brought over by the Johtonians. It has noodles, vegetables, fish and a delicious broth. I suspect you don’t know what broth is, right? It’s the liquid the soup is sitting in. It’s made from water and liquid that leaks out from the vegetables and ingredients. Noodles are the soft, stringy things.”

“Oh! I do believe I’ve heard of saimin before. I overhear trainers and humans all the time. This soup smells familiar.”

“You probably have,” ‘Iwalani said while looking over at me. “When I was a child, this was the main dish, but it’s gotten more and more obscure by the year. Which is a shame because it’s so delicious. Damn Unovans, they introduced increasingly new foods. Not that I don’t like Unovans, I’m a little irritated that they did that, usurping saimin over my lifetime.” He fiddled with a small stick between his teeth. “I could go with a cigarette right about now… I quit so many eons ago, but ugh—I’m still addicted to them—I hate that I still am.”

“Cigarette?” I questioned, curious. “They’re those paper things that people light and sometime toss into the grass and start fires, right?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “But I always carried an ashtray with me in my car. I was an officer of the law and I always upheld the laws. I would always write tickets when I saw idiots doing that.”

“Oh yes. ‘Iwalani was a good person when he was still a human,” Dale neighed.

A blush crept up onto ‘Iwalani’s face. “Why thank you, Dale.”

“Of course, anything for you,” he neighed, rubbing his cheek against ‘Iwalani’s forehead.

“Well, dinner’s ready, come and get some!” Noelani called out, smiling.

\--000—

We quickly moved on after we ate lunch. I felt my belly lurch and I could tell my offspring was going to be born within the next few days, as I could barely move, but I tried really hard to ignore it as best as I could, continuing to trek on, leading the others to where my mate and I used to live.

I quickly recognised the area. I stopped walking, turned around and faced everyone that was behind me. “We’re getting close. We need to be on guard. They can attack without warning.” The scent of the Mightyena filled my nostrils, wafting towards us.

“They’re close.” A growl rose from Blu’s throat. “I can smell them. I know exactly what they smell like, too, like mulch and rotting leaves.”

“They have a weird scent, for sure.” I nodded.

Before I could react, I felt a sharp pain along my back and before I knew it, it was the claws and fangs of a Mightyena. The force of the Mightyena caused me to collapse into the ground, winding me. I felt relief when the sharp pain disappeared when I noticed that Blu had attacked the Mightyena that was on my back.

Despite her gangly and scrawny appearance, she was strong as steel, her huge claws easily swiping off the Mightyena. Her fangs were sharper than nails, as she was easily able to grip the Pokémon in her mouth. She managed to land a critical hit, which caused the Mightyena to start bleeding from the wounds she caused. “You foolish Mightyena, I know how your battle tactics!”

“Do you now?” the Mightyena snarled, baring her fangs.

“Yes, and I know how Mightyena fight, and they don’t play nicely; I’m not as young as you think I am! Focus on me, not her! She’s pregnant! You really want to stoop that low?” she snarled, her hackles raised, and fangs bared.

“You’re right,” the female Mightyena chuckled, licking her lips.

Several other Mightyena surrounded us and everyone in our group had at least one Mightyena attacking them, while Dale, Markab and Bandida had two attacking them, as a probability of their huge size. Everyone seemed to be doing all right, despite the fierceness of clan.

Firium had the advantage though, as he told me he was part Fairy-type, and was easily able to land Dazzling Gleam and Play Rough, of which Mightyena were weak against. He managed to bowl through five before collapsing from exhaustion, which the Mightyena noticed and closed in on him, but Argenta noticed this and landed a Flamethrower upon them, causing them to shrink back.

I thought everyone was winning, but I was wrong. I had forgotten about the clan leader, the most massive, giant female Mightyena that was fiercer than her clan mates. She was nearly three times the size of them and easily towered over Argenta and Dale. She was stocky and had a thick body with short legs, with long fangs and massive claws, to boot. She had several scars across her body; she was missing an ear and one of her fangs was cracked in half. Her scent was loud, and everyone stopped to turn around and look at her. “Well, well, well… look who had to return with “friends”. Can’t fight me yourself, huh?” she growled with venom in her snarl, noticing her clanmates had all fallen thanks to everyone’s combined efforts.

That’s when I had remembered the most sensitive part of a female’s Mightyena was their pseudo-penis, an organ they would mate with and give birth out of. I twitched my tail as a signal for everyone to come closer, which somewhat worked, as Firium, Thorium, Blu and Noelani came closer. “I just remembered…”

“What are you whispering about?” Leader snarled.

I ignored the question, which she didn’t really like, as she was upon us in one stride. I felt my throat being restricted by her jaws, gasping for breaths, not able to breathe. I struggled under her vice grip, only to find I couldn’t move. That’s when I felt something wet in between my legs and my heart sank.

I felt the world go dark…

—000—

I woke up to the smell of human food. As I opened my eyes, I saw that I was lying down on something soft, and I figured it was what humans called “pillows”; there was something covering me over my body, and I knew it was called a “blanket” by humans.

The pillow was large and had short sides that formed a bowl. The inside was fluffy and off-white and was a different material than the outside. The outside was dark blue in colour and wasn’t as soft as the inside. The blanket was the same colour as the pillow.

My belly and flanks weren’t screaming in pain and I felt a lump next to me, suckling on me. That’s when it hit me: my child has been born. I looked over towards my belly, cocking my head and sniffing the pup. The baby was exuding a male Rockruff’s scent and that’s when I figured out my child was now a son.

I slowly stood up, noticing my neck was restricted by a collar that felt like hardened tree bark and a line of some sorts was connected to my leg, with one end being a really sharp needle and the other being a bag of a water-looking substance. I realised this substance made me have to urinate badly, but I knew better than to do so in the pillow I was lying down on.

I tried to steady myself, only to stumble a little bit, but luckily, I didn’t hit my son. My legs had buckled underneath me, much to my chagrin, as I was normally a strong wolf with lots of stamina.

“Hey, careful now,” a gruff but calm voice said.

I tilted my head towards the voice, and I saw it was Nanu, who was reading what humans called a “book”, with a cigarette clasped between his teeth. “Nanu!” I lolled my tongue.

“I’m so glad you’re all right.” He smiled. “Everyone was so worried about you. “Lani bandaged you up and brought you to a Pokémon Centre. We got the clear to bring you back home. Everyone thought you were going to die, but Blu managed to grab the Mightyena’s throat, killing her with a critical hit. The huge Mightyena that everyone described is now dead. Her clanmates all ran off after she had died.”

I blinked, confused, cocking my head, looking at him with a perplexed look. “She’s… dead?”

He just simply nodded, setting his book down. “I know, it sounds unreal, but it’s certainly true. My friends and I all brought shovels and dug a grave for her, out of respect. If you recover more of your strength, I will show you the grave. It’s quite far away, though, half-way between here and Ten Carat Hill.”

I nodded. “That’s fair enough… thank you.”

“Of course. You’re a beautiful Lycanroc, Pōaka, but I’m still wondering why you have the sigil of Lunala on your right flank. Do you have ideas what it means?”

“It’s the sigil of Dawn Wings Necrozma… but I don’t know what it means. I wish I knew. I was born with it and I’ve known it for as long as I’ve lived.”

“Dawn… Wings Necrozma?” he questioned, shocked, nearly dropping his cigarette onto his crotch. “Where do I know this…?”

“I… I don’t know.” I looked down at my son. That’s when I noticed he seemed small but was squirming and lively, brown with a long, flowing tail, not unlike my tail. “How long have I been out?”

“I’d say you’ve been out for almost four, almost five days now.” He placed his cigarette into an ashtray, shoving it into the small plate.

“How is she doing? Oh! She’s awake. Hello there, Pōaka, glad you’re awake now,” Gigi said while entering the room.

“We were just coming to check on her. Glad she’s awake. She’s been out for almost five days after all.” Naomi smiled while standing behind Gigi.

Gigi kissed her on the cheek, but Nanu didn’t react, which confused me, as I thought that Naomi was his mate. “This calls for a celebration. Who wants champagne?”

“Should we wait until Molayne gets off?” Nanu asked, chuckling a little, getting up, standing next to them, hugging the two of them.

“We should wait until he gets off, true. Shall we invite Le Fen, Ruben, Martha and Fin, too?” Naomi asked.

“We should! Good idea.” Gigi smiled, trotting off.

Naomi ran off, quickly catching up to Gigi. “Wait! Don’t forget! We should invite Kahi, Ashley, Sophie, Tabella, Phyco, Soliera, Dulse and Zossie too. They were supposed to come nearly a week ago, right?”

“You’re right, they were. I hated to have to call them and cancel the party. That goddamn Guzzlord.” Gigi’s voice was full of hatred as she clinched her fists.

Nanu turned his attention back towards me as the two ladies walked off. “You’ll meet them soon enough.”

“Are they humans, too? Where is Larissa, Acerola and Hapu?”

“How do I explain this, in terms you can understand?”

“Try me.” I twitched my tail.

“Well, the three of them went out to go shopping. It’s hard to explain… but it’s when humans go out of their houses, go into stores and exchange money for goods, such as clothes and food.”

“Oh! I’ve overheard humans talking about that before.”

“Larissa said she wanted to try out a fresh look, you know. She wanted to try straightening her normally curly hair and try on a new outfit, a bit different than the cadet blue shirt she normally wears.” He looked at his watch. “1:30 pm…” he muttered. “They should be back here shortly.”

“I can’t wait to see them again. By the way, I’m wondering what’s up with Gigi kissing Naomi?”

“We have what’s called an open marriage and Molayne and Gigi have an open marriage too.” A blush crept up on his snow-white face. “How do I explain this to a Pokémon?”

“You’re not offended?”

“Offended? No way. I’ve known Molayne and Naomi for 28 years now and Gigi for 24 years now. We’ve had a relationship for a long time now…”

“My mate and I were mates for nearly 300 moons, but I’ve lost count. This isn’t the only child I’ve had.” I looked down at my pup again. “This is my third child. The previous two have since run off and I believe they’re both with trainers now. One of those trainers is named Gladion.”

“Gladion, huh? While you were out cold, he came by, along with his sister, to come in and check on his mother. They took her home and are taking care of her now.”

“Oh, my son, Raff… I wish I could have seen him.”

“He checked up on you. He’s a Midnight Lycanroc now. He talked to you while you were out. He was proud of you for defeating the Mightyena that killed his father. What about your other child? Do you know what trainer he or she may have gone to?”

“Oh, my daughter went to trainer named Olivia. Her name is Beryl.”

“I know Beryl personally.” He smiled. “She’s a Midday Lycanroc. What was your mate’s name?”

“His name was Ghost… for his frighteningly light tan appearance.” Sadness washed over me, and I flopped back down into the bed, whining, tears now flowing from my eyes.

“Hey… it’s okay…” he said calmly, slowly approaching me, smiling. “Can I pet you? Will you bite me?”

I nodded and let out a sigh. “Yes.”

He smiled, sitting down next to me, slowly petting me. “You’re a good girl.”

The petting comforted me, and I rested my head against his lap. “Thank you, Nanu…”


	5. Meeting of Émilie

Chapter 5

**Nanu’s POV**

I smiled and continued to pet Pōaka, until my phone dinged. The noise caused her to perk up slightly, but she continued to rest her head on my left leg. I carefully grabbed my phone, only to see a text from someone, but I figured out quickly it was Gallagher. I smiled, chuckling quietly.

_It’s Grimsley and I got a new phone recently, which I haven’t transferred all my contacts to yet. I still have your number saved, Nanu! Hey, you, sexy, I haven’t seen you in a while. I was going to come to Alola, but I got a weird letter. I was wondering if you had, too. Check your mail as soon as possible!_

I blushed, remembering he had feelings for me, even though I didn’t really reciprocate. I had remembered it wasn’t that long ago that he married Sharla and the two have an open relationship.

_Hey Grimsley, how’s the new phone? I hope you like it. I’m not at home right now, but maybe I could go ahead and go home briefly. I’m staying at Gigi’s house. You remember it, right? It’s near a beach on Akala Island. What’s this weird letter you’re talking about? How’s Sharla? I haven’t seen her in forever either. I hope you guys can come to Alola soon._

It didn’t take long for the three dots to appear and he quickly replied, the speed of which shocked me.

_OH yes! I remember Gigi’s house! Ah. It’s so cute. I want a house in Alola, too, not just Unova. I love my new phone, as my old one’s battery was getting worse. Sharla is doing well. Our adopted daughter is such a handful! She’s about to start her Pokémon journey. How is Larissa doing? I haven’t seen her in over a year now._

I smiled and quickly replied:

_If you want a house in Alola, you’re welcome to use my house. I hardly live in it and I still own it. I’d be happy to transfer it to your name. Larissa is doing well and she’s about to start on her Island Trial, but it’s been delayed because she’s seems to be quite scared. I don’t blame her, because I cold feet too, when I started mine._

It didn’t take him long to reply:

_Your house? Are you sure? You have so much land with lots of fruit trees! Have you thought about selling any of the fruit that grows there? To be honest, I want a cabin on the summit of Lanakila, what do you think of that? Yeah, I had cold feet when I started too! I gotta go, I have to go make dinner for Sharla and Skye! Hey, can we video chat later? I can show you the letter! Later, sexy ;)_

“Hmm… that won’t be a problem.” I smiled and quickly replied:

_Yes. You can have my house. Let me know if you want to move to Alola. I hadn’t thought of selling any of the fruit, as I have more money than what I know what to do with. A cabin on Lanakila would be awesome! In fact, Naomi and I were talking about going back up there soon. She’s worried about her old teammates and is wondering how they’re doing, as she hasn’t seen them in ages. Last time we went there, we almost died from being stuffed into this tiny cabin, grr. That was so irritating. Have a nice dinner. And yes, we can video chat, it shouldn’t be a problem, but we will have a lot of people over later. I’d love to see the letter. Cya later, my Cool Cat Dude ;)_

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, sighing because my thumbs were now aching from typing so much on a tiny screen. “iPhone 6 is great, but my fingers…” I muttered to myself, focusing my attention back onto Pōaka, petting her again. My phone dinged again, and I pulled it out, only to see Gallagher again.

_You do realise, I was one of the people that rescued that day, right? Haha. I don’t blame you for forgetting, as it must have been traumatic. Well, guess what. Sharla and Skye want to order pizza. I guess I won’t be making dinner, much to my chagrin, because I wish they could have told me ahead of time._

I chuckled slightly, understanding his frustration. But before I could go ahead and reply, Ghislaine, Molayne and Naomi came back into the room, all with perplexed looks upon their faces and their eyes were full of confusion, all saying chatting at once.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… slow down. What’s this about a letter?” I asked. I stopped petting Pōaka, got up, and went over to them. I then noticed that Molayne was home, arriving right on time.

Ghislaine handed me her letter, and that’s when I got a good look at it. The envelope was fancy-looking, with gold framing that shined in the light; the letters on the outside were in cursive and golden in colour, not unlike the framing.

I opened up the letter, grabbing its edge and unfolding it. The inside was beautiful, with golden ribbon-like framing. The paper was thicker the usual A8 paper that’s found in supermarkets and office supply chain stores. Every word is in cursive. I decided to read it aloud:

“Dear Madam Bouchard,  
“You’re invited to come to Pasio, a brand new, artificial island off the coast of Unova, created by yours truly, Sir Lear! We are trying to gather as many strong trainers as possible, and yes, that includes you!  
“When is this event? It starts August 1, 2014. This gives you one month in order to get everything gathered and to make sure everyone gets this letter.  
“In order to cooperate:  
“1. You can bring all your Pokémon, but you are only allowed to use one at a time;  
“2. You cannot bring Z-Rings or Mega Stones;  
“3. No weapons. I’m looking at you, Interpol. And yes, I know you’re an Interpol officer, Madam Bouchard;  
“4. If you are married or have a partner, you’re welcome to bring them, but do note you may have to battle them at some point. This includes family members, too.  
“Grand prize: $500,000.  
“Signed,  
“Sir Lear.”

“I got the same thing, pretty much.” Molayne looked at his letter, handing it to me.

“Hmm… you’re right, but it doesn’t mention you being an Interpol officer, though.” I took a quick look at his letter. “Makes me wonder, if my letter says something similar.” I looked over at Gigi. “You don’t mind if I go home with Naomi, do you?”

Gigi shook her head. “No, that’s fine with me.”

“Gigi, do you have any Dimemine?”

“I do, just for this occasion, because I know you get seasick.”

“I used all mine up the other day…” Naomi blushed. “Sorry about that.”

“Naomi, you could stay, if you’d like.” I smiled, putting my arm around her. “I know you don’t like riding on your boat.”

“You’d do that for me? Thank you, Nanu, I do appreciate that.”

“Of course.” I nodded. “Let me go find my Pokémon. Where are they? Last I saw them, they were relaxing on the beach, were they not?”

“Yeah, they should be near the beach. They wanted to go and see Bardolph. He recently started growing berries somewhere in the area. I admit, I haven’t seen him much lately, but when I walk by his garden, it’s always flourishing.” Molayne smiled.

“Ah yes, I remember.” I smiled. I felt something furry touch my leg. I looked down to see Pōaka and her son standing next to her. “Do you want to come too?” I smiled, kneeling next to them. “Little guy is already walking, eh?”

“I’m ready to go outside. But what is this weird bag for?” Pōaka looked up at the saline bag.

“Ah, that’s called a saline bag. I can remove the needle if you’d like me to. Promise not to bite me?”

“I promise.” She nodded.

I carefully grabbed her right front leg, gently holding it in my left hand. I carefully but quickly slid the needle out and watched as she winced but didn’t bite me. I smiled and placed her leg back onto the floor. “There you go.”

“Thank you, Nanu. What is this for anyway?”

“Notice how you’re not feeling thirsty? The saline bag is full of fluids, such as water, salt, and sugars. The needle just slips into one of your veins, which makes it easier to transfer the saline into your veins.”

“You’re right, I’m not thirsty at all. I don’t think I can move that much though, mind carrying me outside?”

“I’ll carry you,” Naomi said in a sweet and calm voice, kneeling next to her, petting her. “You’re such a sweet Pokémon.”

“Thank you, Naomi.” Her tail wagged.

Naomi wrapped her arms around her carefully, placing her hands under her rump, steadying her. She smiled, letting her place her head on her shoulder. “I got you, honey.”

“You’re so sweet, Naomi…” Pōaka barked quietly.

“That’s her mother’s instinct.” Gigi looked over at Pōaka.

“I wasn’t able to have children, so Pokémon are like children to me.” Naomi’s eyes clouded, but she soon recovered and smiled, petting Pōaka on top of her head.

“Woof!” Pōaka’s son yipped, squeaky and loud.

“Aww. He’s so cute!” Molayne smiled, scooping him up, giggling as he got licked by the tiny Rockruff. “I wonder what his name should be?”

Pōaka looked over at Molayne. “I was thinking Mjolnir.”

“Interesting name. My father would appreciate that name.” I smiled, petting her head. “Let’s go outside now.”

—0000—

We walked for about a quarter mile. Naomi set Pōaka on the ground and let her walk around. We kept our backs towards her, because I figured she had to pee bad, but we did this to give her some privacy, but we kept close, just in case if the cast our her neck decided to get caught on some brush. Molayne set Mjolnir, let him follow his mother and we noticed that he didn’t wonder off too far.

Poachers were still a thing, but Gigi cracked down on them often on the island she lived on, but they weren’t as common as they were nearly 20 years ago, but they still did exist. I wondered how Pōaka managed to live so long without poachers after her, but I knew she was wily and intelligent.

Before I could go and look for them to see if they were all right, my phone dinged again, and I then grabbed it from my pocket.

That’s when I saw it was from Émile, _Hey, Nanu. I got a weird letter. Did you?_

I decided to reply, _I’m at Gigi’s house, but I assume I did too. Gigi and Molayne both got a weird letter, too._

_Check your mail whenever you get home, then. I’m going to assume you got one, too. I did some research and Pasio is not a new island but was artificially built-up using millions of tonnes of sand, so it is half artificial, half natural._

I decided to just keep it left on read, but also decided I would reply soon. I shoved my phone back into my pocket, only to see the everyone else had walked off but weren’t too far in front of me. They all stared at me indignantly, annoyed that I was completely engrossed in my phone. I sighed, picking up my pace and catching up them.

“Hey, so we’re not the only ones that got a weird letter. Émile did, too.”

“Oh.” Naomi looked at me curiously. “Is that what you were doing? Kids these days with their phones!” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“We’re almost there, that’s why we looked at you so funny,” Gigi teased.

“Yeah, _Bellyache._ ” Molayne joined the teasing, but he giggled.

“HEY! I want to know who’s texting me anyway.” I shrugged.

“We know, we’re just messing with you. Liven up.” Naomi smiled, placing her arm around my shoulder.

“You think this old coot doesn’t have much humour these days?” I jabbed my elbow into Naomi’s right side playfully, smirking.

Naomi chuckled, grinning. “I’m going to get you back, when you least expect it.”

“Oh, I’m _soooo_ scared,” I said with sarcasm.

“Ah, we’re here,” Gigi announced, picking up her pace and joining her Pokémon.

Molayne picked up the pace as well and stood next to an Oran berry tree. “Bardolph?” he called out while looking up the tree.

A brown, furry blob jumped out of the tree, hands full of Oran berries and a glass in his other paw. I recognised it to be Bardolph. “Oran juice, coming right up!” 

Bardolph had since evolved into a Pokémon called Greedent. He appeared be larger and chubbier but was covered in thick fur that made him appear fatter. His thick fur was dark brown in colour, with a lighter tannish-brown belly. He had a large, upper buck tooth that showed even when his mouth was closed. His ears were short, with yellow insides, ending in a tuft of fur. His muzzle ended in a large, light yellow nose. He had small yellow spots on his cheeks, with short vibrissae that were lightly coloured. His eyes were dark but shined brightly when the sunlight hit them. The scars that once lined his flank were lightened and barely noticeable.

“There’s Bardolph.” Gigi smiled.

“Hey, guys!” he greeted, stopping in his tracks. “I’m delivering some Oran juice to some injured Pokémon! Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” He ran off before saying anything else.

I looked over at Naomi and we seem to have the same idea. Gigi and Molayne had the same idea too. We all nodded at each other and picked up the pace, following Bardolph.

It didn’t take us long to catch up to him, as he didn’t go very far, only a short distance to a copse. The copse was large, with short grass, several logs with mushrooms growing on them, patches of bare dirt and a small pond.

That’s when we all noticed a girl sitting down next to a log on a dirt patch. Next to her, was an uncommon Alolan Pokémon, Komala. She was stroking the little Pokémon, petting it softly while singing in French.

Bardolph approached her with the glass and the Oran berry, smashing it with his paws, draining the juice into the glass, handing it to her. She drank some of the juice, giving the rest to her Komala.

I recognised the girl instantly: it was Émile’s daughter, a perfect likeness to him and coincidentally named Émilie, but she found out her biological mother named her that on purpose. She greatly resembled him, albeit younger and opposite gender of him. She shared his beautiful grey eyes and brownish-grey hair, which she had grown out longer than his. Her pale skin was tanned, as I could tell she had lived in Alola for several months. She was wearing a light pink shirt with white floral hibiscus; her shorts were orange with a black band and white strings. Her sandals were closed toe, that were green, with white soles and dark grey bottoms. She was also wearing a baby blue and dark brown shawl, loosely wrapped around her neck. She had a large scar underneath her knee and along her arm, the scar along her arm being a perfect circle. She also had large feet for a woman, something that stood out to me.

The Komala next to her side was tiny and without a log, latching onto her arm as a coping mechanism. It was blue grey in colour, with large round ears that were light orange on the insides, its belly was light grey in colour, its nose was large and black. Normally, Komala had its own stump, but this one was much too young to have its own yet, as it was still just a joey.

The girl looked up and noticed us approaching, startled by our sudden appearance, as she was engrossed in taking care of her Komala. “Oh. Who are you?” she asked, cocking her head. “Wait, you’re Nanu, the Kahuna of Ula’ula Island, right?” She then looked over at Molayne. “And Molayne of the Elite Four, too?”

Molayne put his hand on the back of his head, while chuckling, one of his tics. “That’s right. I don’t think we’ve met before though. What’s your name?”

I nodded, placing my hand on my chin. “I’m Nanu, yes, I’m the Kahuna. This is my wife, Naomi, and this is Molayne’s wife, Ghislaine.”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you! We haven’t met yet, but I believe you’re Émile’s kiddo, aren’t you?” Gigi asked.

“I’m Naomi and we’ve been friend with your father for almost three decades now.” Naomi smiled.

“My name is Émilie, but I guess you already know that. I’m glad you guys found me; I’ve twisted my ankle. My big ol feet did this to me. I’m so careful too, so I’m surprised I managed to twist my ankle. It was for a darn good reason too, I managed to save this tiny Komala,” she said while stroking the tiny Pokémon. “I think I’ll name her Komatose.” 

“We’ll help you,” Argenta said from behind us. She stepped in front of us and sat down next to her. “We don’t like seeing humans in pain.”

I didn’t do anything because I wanted to see how Argenta would handle being around a stranger. _I wonder how well she will do. I know she makes friends quickly because of her trustworthy nature, but I really want to know what she’ll do with someone she just met!_

Pōaka approached her cautiously, sniffing her and then wagging her tail. “I like this child.”

“I like you too, Lycanroc. I’m not really a kid anymore…” she chuckled hesitantly. “I’m 18 now.”

“Hey, she speaks Pokémon.” Pōaka lolled her tongue.

“Grab a hold of me,” Argenta commanded.

Émilie wrapped her hands around Argenta’s neck, steadying herself as Argenta rose up. She grunted as she steadied herself on her single leg. “Thank you, Silvally. I appreciate it.”

“I’m Argenta. Silvally is my sister.”

“Ah! You look kind of like her, hence my confusion.” She smiled. “Hey… is it too much to ask? I’m really hungry, I’m afraid this juice isn’t enough, to be honest,” she hesitated.

“Yeah. We were going to make lunch soon anyways. You’re welcome to join us.” Gigi smiled, nodding.

“What should we have for lunch anyway?” Molayne asked.

“I was thinking sandwiches and pasta salad.” Gigi looked over at Naomi and me.

“That does sound good.” I nodded.

“I agree. Let’s make some lunch!” Naomi grinned.

“I thought I heard the word lunch,” Larissa said while approaching us.

“I heard the word sandwiches. You know I’m addicted to those!” Hapu said gleefully.

“Pasta salad by aunty Gigi is so good!” Acerola said with gusto.

Gigi blushed slightly, chuckling. “Thank you, kiddos.” She looked over at Émilie. “What would you like for lunch?”

“I’ll take pasta salad and sandwiches. That sounds good actually,” Émilie answered. “But, I’ll have you know, I’m vegetarian.” She looked at the ground, slightly embarrassed.

“We’re not a huge meat household anyway. Everything I cook is vegetarian, so it’s okay.” Gigi smiled. “We only rarely eat hot dogs and burgers.”

“Yeah. I don’t like burgers that much anyway!” Larissa stuck her tongue out.

“Really?” Émilie looked at Gigi, shocked. “Most everyone I know loves to shove their face with meat and fish.”

“Maybe I’m a little bit like that…” I replied, hesitantly. “Veggie burgers have so much more flavour though.”

“I know a lot of recipes,” Naomi said while smiling.

“I can carry you, Émilie,” Molayne offered. “I’ll be gentle.”

“That’s fine. I’d appreciate that, actually.” She looked at him with a pained look upon her face, hobbling over towards him. She almost tripped, but Molayne caught her, which caused her to blush slightly.

\---000—

“We don’t care if you stay for a few days.” Gigi smiled, setting a plate down for Émilie. “But my house is getting full… I’m not sure where you can stay.”

“She can stay with me,” Larissa offered. “I honestly don’t mind. I can take the couch.”

“Are you sure?” Molayne asked.

“I’m sure, Daddy.”

“She can take the couch, then.” Gigi nodded.

“I will take the couch, because I can keep my leg elevated that way, that’s what’s best for my leg anyway. When is your company supposed to come over?” Émilie asked.

“They said they would be here a quarter to five.” Gigi looked at her watch. “I see it’s almost two now.”

“Oh! Émilie.” Molayne looked over at her. “We have some crutches you can use. I’ve had them for ages now.” He took a bite of his sandwich, with a slightly pained look upon his face. “I don’t like to talk about it, but about 15 years ago, I fell a couple of metres and cracked my tailbone. I got addicted to Vicodin.”

Émilie deadpanned as she took a bite of her pasta salad. “I see… I don’t like talking about my perfect circle scar on my arm, but it involves my Sawsbuck, Italus.”

 _It’s in the perfect shape of a bite mark. Could it be that he tried to mate with her? I’ve heard of male Sawsbuck doing that,_ I thought to myself. “I don’t like talking about the scar on my chest.” I put my hand on my chest.

“I don’t like talking about it either.” Naomi’s eyes clouded.

“Or the scar on my chest either.” Gigi looked melancholic. “Say, let’s lighten the mood. Émilie, tell us about yourself!”

“Hmm… let’s see. I wanted to spend some time in Alola, mainly because Dad recommended it. My nephew, Jasper is on Poni Island right now. We’re both too old to do the Island Challenge, but we came because we needed a break from the cold. I admit, I love it here, because I’d love to live here. It’s so much warmer here than Unova. Dad told me to look for you, Gigi, Nanu and Naomi.” She looked over at us.

Gigi, Naomi and I gave her a quizzical look. “Why?” we said in unison.

“I’m an amateur detective,” she said with a smirk. “Dad said you guys could help me. That’s why I was looking for you. I want you to train me.”

“How old are you?” I looked at her, shocked, almost dropping my fork.

“I’m almost 18 and a half now.” She grinned. “Five years ago, I helped solve the murder of nearly a dozen people in Kalos, thanks to Cassidy, Solal, Céleste, Kenda and Amaud. I saw things that they missed.”

“Do spill who did it,” Acerola egged her on.

“I want to know too.” Hapu nodded.

“It wasn’t a human, I can tell you that, but it was a murderous Pyroar. We managed to stop him before he could kill anyone else. Mind you, he was massive… he was about three times the size of my Pyroar, Brasier. I’m mentioning my Pyroar because he’s pretty huge too. He’s almost as tall as I am and I’m 5’3”. I went through a growth spurt last year. What else? I’ve lived in Kalos and Sinnoh too, challenging the gyms there. I really want to go to the other regions, too. What else would you like to know about me?”

“Congrats on solving your first murder.” I smiled, taking a bite. Before I could even swallow, my phone buzzed again with a notification. “Oh God…” I muttered under my breath, reaching for my phone, unlocking it and looking at the text.

“How many texts are you going to get?” Naomi giggled. “You’re popular today. Spill, who is it?”

I looked at the text and noticed it was from Kahi. “It’s from Kahi. He’s telling me he got one of those weird letters too. It reads: ‘ _Ashley and I got a weird letter. We’re wondering if you did, too_ ’.”

“You said weird letter? I got one too, and I’m not even from here.” Émilie blinked, confused as we all looked at her quizzically and with skepticism.

_I wonder how many people got this letter? And what is up with this anyway? How many more texts am I going to get?_


	6. The Mystery Letter! Who is it From?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years! Sorry it’s late.

Chapter 6

**Molayne’s POV**

“You said you got a weird letter too?” I asked.

“I did. It’s in my backpack. I didn’t get to see what they looked like, because they were just wearing a nondescript black cloak and a Guy Fawkes mask. He had a pitch changer too, so I couldn’t tell what their real voice was, and I couldn’t tell what their gender was. To be honest, this person reminded me of the Shadow Triad of Unova.”

“We need to get to the bottom of who this person is and who King Lear is.” Gigi looked over at me. “We should check our security cameras.”

“That’s not a bad idea, but I’m afraid you’re not going to see much… considering I only saw them in a cloak and a mask.”

“I’m thinking it could be more than one person, perhaps. Do you have an approximate height? I know from Émile that you’re extremely observant.” I looked over at Émilie while placing my hand on my chin.

“Hmm… I want to say he was around your height, but he looked massive under his cloak. I tell you, this guy was a freaking tank, no joke, I swear. He was larger than Hala.”

“I believe you.” Nanu looked over at her after taking a bite of his sandwich. “Hmm… I know a lot of people that live around Melemele and he doesn’t sound familiar. I have a feeling that he might not even be from Alola.”

“You’re right, Nanu.” She nodded, sipping some iced tea. “His accent was Unovan and he didn’t really sound like anyone from Alola, at all. I’ve been here since January 10th, so I’ve memorised what Alolans sound like. Heck, I think I’m starting to sound like I’m from here.”

“People can lose their accents if they live in a region for a long time,” Hapu commented.

“I’ve heard that too.” Acerola nodded.

“You do kind of sound like us!” Larissa agreed. “I’m not the only one that picks up on the way people sound.”

I smiled, rubbing the head of my daughter. “I’m going to get those crutches for you, Émilie.”

“I would appreciate that. Say, you said you broke your tailbone, how come you got crutches?”

I chuckled mirthlessly. “Oh, this is embarrassing, but I was on my way to the bathroom, from sitting on the beach, and I managed to twist my ankle really bad, and luckily Petrel and Gigi helped me to the doctor.” A blush crept upon my face.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to laugh at you. That sounds painful.” She looked at me with concern but smiled and turned around to take a sip of tea, letting me go ahead and walk off.

I walked down the small hallway to one of the hallway closets, passing Larissa’s room, noticing that ‘Iwalani was asleep at the foot of her bed, with Thuban, Komatose and Mjolnir all sleeping on top of his back, while the other Pokémon were resting in the guest room. I smiled, noticing the adorable moment. I snapped out of it and returned to looking for the crutches, or so I thought I was, when my phone dinged.

I saw that it was from my little cousin and I looked at my phone concernedly. Normally, he doesn’t text me unless he _really_ needed me. “Wonder what’s got him into a tizzy?” I muttered under my breath as I unlocked my phone.

_Big Mo, you won’t believe it! Lunala, Solgaleo and the Tapus are acting weird! I can see a weird Pokémon through the telescope! You have to see this, asap. I’m going to send Zans your way, if that’s okay! I sent a text to auntie Gigi too, so she doesn’t worry about why you randomly disappeared._

My face fell as I read the text, completely shocked at what I had just read. I snapped out of it, opening up the closet and seeing the crutches. I grabbed them, walking back down the hall and back to the kitchen. “Gigi?” I said while approaching her. “Check your phone, because Sophie just texted me about something important.”

“I just saw it.” Gigi looked over at me.

I smiled, handing the crutches to Émilie. “Well, I found them. Here you go, hon. I hope they can help you.”

“Thank you, Molayne. I’m going to go to the couch. Is that okay?”

“My home is yours. You’re welcome to do whatever here. We’re very accepting of company!” Gigi explained.

“She’s right. We love having friends and family over.” I nodded. “And you’re welcome. Let one of us know if you need anything.”

“I will let you know.” She nodded, tucking the crutches under her armpits, hobbling off towards the living room.

Before I could run off towards the bathroom, Zans materialised in front of us, and I physically groaned. “I can’t even go to the bathroom in peace, eh?”

“I’m at my limit, ya know?” Zans mewed. “It takes me a while to gather up energy to teleport.” She flicked her tail, dismissing me. “Just go.”

A blush crept upon my face as I walked off towards the bathroom. After taking a leak, Nanu stood in the hallway, slightly blocking my path. I looked at him quizzically, cocking my head and placing my hand on my moustache, twiddling with it. “What’s up?” I asked.

He cleared his throat, placing his left hand onto my left shoulder, leaning in close and whispering into my ear, his warm breath tickling my ear. “I’m going with you. You can’t stop me.”

I felt my cheeks growing hot with how close he was, sweat was starting to form on my neck and I felt slightly faint. “Stop arousing me.”

He chuckled, leaning away from me, urging me to follow him back to the kitchen. “I think Zans is ready to leave now.”

“Well, I’m ready to go.” I grabbed Petrel’s ball. I peeked around the corner, seeing Petrel perched upon my bedframe, sound asleep. My stirring and staring at him woke him up and he begrudgingly agreed.

“Fine,” he squawked quietly.

“Thank you, Petrel.” I aimed the ball at him, returning him and watching him vapourise into the orb. I placed the ball back onto my belt. I turned around and looked at Nanu, who patted his belt, indicating he had already returned all his Pokémon. “Well, you beat me to it.”

“Of course, I did.” He smirked. “I already told Naomi I was going with you.”

“I’ll catch up with you guys. I’m going too.” Naomi walked between us, placing her hands on each of our shoulders. “Flying on a certain Noivern doesn’t scare me.”

“Do you want me to teleport you or not? I can’t do three people,” Zans let out a hiss in contempt.

“Zans…” I knelt beside her, placing my hand under her chin, petting her. “Teleport me. I’m scared flying.”

“As you wish.” She began to glow blue, flames shooting out of her tail tip, a blue aura surrounding her body. She pounced upon me and just like that, in an instance, I felt my body go numb.

_Numb… What is thus numbness? What is this strange sensation? This strange limbo I’m in…_

“Wake up, Four Eyes!” I felt my skin being tugged on by claws.

I woke up, dazed and confused. I blinked, screwing my eyes and adjusting my glasses, which had almost slipped off. I sat up, only to be met with a wave of nausea. “Oh God….” My stomach was in knots, too. “Luckily, I have emergency mints in my pocket, just in case if I ever _had_ to teleport again.” I reached into my pocket, grabbing the package they were in, emptying the whole container into my mouth.

“Better, Molayne?” Zans asked, purring, and rubbing her tail on my shoulder.

“A little bit… My stomach isn’t hurting as much as it did before.”

“BIG MO! THERE YOU ARE!”

I looked over towards where the voice was calling out. I knew it was my little cousin. “Sophie!” I stood up slowly, regaining my balance. I saw him bounding over the hill, with Tabella in tow.

The once chubby little teen boy was now a tall young adult, standing at 6’ even from a last-minute growth spurt. He was still a bit chubby, but most of it was in his cheeks. He now had long, flowing ginger hair that he kept in a bright yellow hair tie. He wore a giant sweatshirt that was two sizes too big, making him appear bigger-bodied than he really was. He wore skinny dark grey jeans that hugged his waist and butt, forming around his figure. Around his neck was a Steelium-Z, something I had gifted him when he was just a child. Tied around his waist was a dark purple jacket that was the same brand as mine. The small, white gold ring that gripped his finger shown brightly in the sunlight. On his feet, he was wearing black hiking boots.

Tabella was now a young adult too, no longer a teenager, now standing at a stagger 5’10”, nearly the same height as her husband. The Alolan sun did somewhat of a number on her blue grey, cobalty skin, which was now very pale, almost bone-coloured. Her hair was still ginger in colour, which shone brightly I’m the sun. Her eyes were still orangey in colour as well. She was wearing an Alolan sweatshirt, light blue in colour, with white hibiscus flowers plastered all over the shirt. She was also wearing a pair of dark blue jeans. On her feet were black hiking boots, not unlike what Sophie was wearing. Her ring matched his as well.

“I’m really glad you’re here. Thank you, Zans. You can go back to Phyco now, if you’d like.” Sophie leaned down, petting Zans.

“Thank you for bringing Molayne to us.” Tabella smiled, petting Zans.

“Of course. I will be off now!” she purred, glowing blue and disappearing completely.

“You look like you climbed down of washing machine. Are you okay?” Sophie asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” I nodded, rubbing my forehead. “I just hate teleportation, but I hate flying and being on a boat. I’m not unlike Naomi.” I looked around, noticing I was on Mount Hokulani, not too far from the Hokulani Observatory. “Well, it’s great to be at work before I’m even scheduled.” Out of habit, I grabbed my keys.

“Hey, you know it’s already unlocked!” Sophie snorted.

“Ya know, it’s just habit,” I chuckled hesitantly, placing my keys back into my pocket. “So, can you tell me what’s going on?”

“I’ll explain while we walk, all right?” Sophie turned around and started to walk, holding onto Tabella’s hand.

“That’s fair.” I nodded, staring to follow them.

“Basically, I was messing around with the smaller telescope—”

“Sophocles, I don’t appreciate you messing with my telescopes.” I glared at him. I noticed we made it to the front door.

“I was cleaning the lens very carefully, like what you taught me to do. Don’t worry, I’d never purposely break it.” He reached out, opening the door, propping it open, letting Tabella and I through.

“Oh, I get it.” I nodded. “You were making sure the lens was clean, from what I gathered, right?”

“Yeah, I was making sure the lens was clean, when I saw a shiny black object through the telescope. It was out of focus at first, so I focused it, and I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was a Pokémon I’ve never seen it before, for sure. I got Tabella to look, too. That’s when she spotted Solgaleo and Lunala.”

“Solgaleo and Lunala were acting weird.” She looked at me with a puzzled look. “Here, come see for yourself.” She grabbed my hand, which shocked me, leading me to the smaller telescope.

I looked through the telescope, seeing a large black Pokémon suddenly appear in the lens, and what I saw shocked me, causing me to yelp and land on my butt. “Ow.” I rubbed my butt. “What the hell did I just see?”

“It shocked you that bad, huh?” Tabella cocked her head.

“Y-yes… it appeared out of nowhere, I swear. Like a psycho-thriller movie,” I chuckled mirthlessly. I stood up, looking through the telescope again, getting another good look at whatever was through it.

The strange Pokémon was large and mostly black in colour, shining in the bright sunshine, resembling a giant piece of obsidian. It had a large protrusion on its head, with a row three spikes along the top, with the back of it being light grey with a dark grey star shape in the middle. Its face was multicoloured, being light orange, red, purple, green and blue. It had thin arms, with large hands with three large claws, with whitish crystal on the palms. Its elbows had a hook like shape on it, resembling an origami crane, with spikes jutting out of its shoulders.

 _Something about this creature seems familiar…_ I thought to myself, leaning back, while adjusting my glasses. “Something about this Pokémon seems oddly familiar…” I looked over at Tabella and Sophocles.

“You’re right.” Sophocles nodded in agreement. “I’m going to do some research.”

“I’ll join you then. We need to get to the bottom of this.” Tabella put her hand on his shoulder.

“I’m getting hungry though.” He rubbed his stomach. “I haven’t eaten yet. Have you?” He looked at me.

“I’m hungry too. And usually I don’t eat as often as you!” she chuckled.

“I already ate, but you guys can go ahead.” I looked at the both of them. _My stomach still hurts from that teleportation…_ I thought to myself, mentally grumbling.

“No, I’d love it if you would join us, pleaseeeee, Molayne!” she begged.

“Fine, fine.” I smiled. “I’ll join you guys at the table.”

“Cya in the kitchen, then!” he said happily.

I watched as they walked off quickly, turning the corner and disappearing. _This Pokémon… it can’t be. Is it a legendary? What is it?_ I tried to rack my brain around, but was soon stumped. _I should get some green tea, maybe it might help my stomach._ I quickly left the room, making my way to the kitchen, where I saw that the couple was munching on carrots, peppers, and celery with ranch.

“There you are!” Tabella’s eyes lit up, biting a carrot. “I still can’t get over how good Earth food is!”

“Of course, you’d say that. I’m glad you could join us, though, Molayne.” Sophocles took a sip of iced tea.

I sat down next to Sophocles, smiling and nodding. “So, how are you two doing?” I asked. “It’s been a few days, huh?”

“Yeah, it has. I’m doing well,” she replied.

“I’m doing well, too,” he replied.

“So… I’m thinking this Pokémon might be a legendary.” I placed my hand on chin, closing my eyes, sighing deeply.

“It’s weird.” Tabella cocked her head, taking a sip of some iced tea. “I feel like I’ve seen that Pokémon before, in old stories. It sounds strange, so hear me out: we had a weird Pokémon that’s not an Ultra Beast in our old stories. We called it ‘the Blinding One’, because it shone bright as the Earth’s sun. It had four forms, including the one we saw through the telescope. We didn’t have an an English name for it, but we could often call it Cruunqroiks. Legend has it that it stole our sun…”

My eyes widened. “Interesting story… remember, we found out your planet was tidally locked for some odd reason…”

“Yeah, I remember that.” She nodded.

“I wonder what its English name is, then?” he pondered rhetorically.

“Well, whenever you guys are done eating, then we should do some research.” I smiled.

“You could go ahead and start, we will catch up with you.” He looked over the plate of veggies. “I just hate eating huge amounts in front of you…”

“Nah, it’s okay. I know you have an active imagination and a huge appetite to boot.” I smirked. I stood up, pushing the chair in. “I’m going to make some green tea though… Ya know that I hate teleportation.”

“Oh! Is that why you looked like you came out of a washing machine?” she teased.

“Yeah, yeah,” I chuckled, nodding. “Hey, Nanu and Naomi are coming too. I’m not sure how long it’ll take them to get here.” I turned on the sink, letting the water get hot. _I was really hoping to have some time off, without doing any work… ugh,_ I thought while grabbing a mug, noticing the water was getting hot. I turned my head towards the couple, noticing they were busy eating. _Good, I’m glad they weren’t trying to talk to me._ I placed the mug in the microwave, setting the time to 1:30.

“Molayne… would you like to have some dessert? I made a chocolate cake earlier. You don’t have to have any right now.” Sophocles approached me. “You look like shit, honestly.”

“I’m stressed out. I honestly wanted some time off to myself. It feels like I’m constantly working.”

“Hey, we can do the research!” Tabella said happily while approaching me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “I love you, Uncle Mo.”

“Awww.” I turned around, hugging Tabella. “I love you too.”

Sophocles hugged me as well. “I love you as well, Big Mo.”

“Say… before we do some research, you should relax,” she said while unwrapping her arms from me.

“I agree. Molayne, I just remembered, I recall you telling me a story about how you met Gigi, but I don’t remember all the details.”

“You haven’t told me the story, so this’ll be my first time hearing it.”

“Let me get my tea first, then I’ll tell you the story. Go ahead and go to the lounge room. I’ll join you.” I watched as the two smiled and walked off happily, disappearing around a corner. The microwave beeped as I grabbed a tea bag. I grabbed the mug, placing the tea bag in it.

I made my way towards the lounge room, sitting down next to Tabella, clearing my throat. We were joined by my Alolan Dugtrio, Belynda and Magnezone, Smith, as well as Sophocles’ Togedemaru, Rolypoly and Tabella’s Espeon, Cattail. I grabbed Petrel’s ball, letting him out.

“Now that everyone is here… it’s time to tell the story of how I met my beautiful wife, Ghislaine…”


End file.
